


Dust to Stars

by orphan_account



Series: Dust to Stars [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Fake AH Crew, M/M, Minor Character Death, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-08-29 22:26:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 50,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8507875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In a city where anything can happen, anyone can rise, and anyone can die, people will fight tooth and nail for what they believe in and who they love. So when a hit gets put out on Geoff's wife, he'll do anything to stop it, even if it means creating one of the most fearsome gangs Los Santos has ever known.





	1. Begin

**Author's Note:**

> So it's been a really long time since I've written anything and this is my first Rooster Teeth fanfiction. I don't know how long it's going to be, I'm just going to write until I find the end of the story. Right now my plan is to release a new chapter at least every 2 weeks if not more than that. There's going to be a lot of violence and explicit language. The rating may increase if I decide to include smut. The tags will progress and be added as the story continues. I hope you enjoy reading, thanks!

“We’ve got a problem.”

The woman looked to the man who spoke with one eyebrow raised. “What’s wrong?”

A phone clattered to the floor as the man put his head into his hands and let out a low groan. “Fucking shit,” he growled before reaching out and grabbing the bottle of booze sitting next to him. He took a swig before looking back up to the woman, the worry and concern clear in his eyes. “They put a hit out on Griff.”

“Fuck,” the woman said, eyebrows knitting together in thought. “Do you think she’ll be able to handle it or…”

“I don’t know. Marcus is a nasty fucker when he wants to be and Griffon doesn’t have anyone watching her back except me. If someone goes after her she’ll be able to handle it, but if they’ve done their research they’ll know to bring a group. As good as Griffon is I don’t know if she’d be able to handle a group,” the man said, looking back down for a moment before sighing and picking up his phone. He typed a little bit into it before setting it gently on a nightstand.

A tight frown graced the woman’s features as she watched the man. She knew there were more issues than just those that he had addressed, but she wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear it at that point. After a moment, though, the woman made her decision. “You know if she survives the first hit Marcus will just send out another one, right? Refusing to smuggle him drugs and negating their weapons deal embarrassed him in front of his crew. I doubt he’ll give up wanting revenge.”

The man huffed before snatching the bottle off the nightstand and drinking out of it again.

“Drinking’s not going to make the problem go away,” the woman said while looking at her nails. She knew he was just stalling by drinking.

“Bite me.”

“I’ll leave that kind of thing to you and Griffon’s private lives.”

“You think you’re real fucking funny, don’t you?”

“You’re stalling.”

The man went to drink again, but was stopped by a hand on his wrist. He looked up to the woman, a challenge in his eyes before he relented and set the bottle down. There was a pause before he spoke again. “You know Marcus has cronies and that it’d be suicide for me to try and get to him.”

Nodding, the woman only said, “I know.”

A glare found its way being directed at the woman. “Since you obviously have an idea on what to do why don’t you just come out and say it rather than getting on my nerves? Or are you the one stalling now?”

Chuckling lightly, the woman shrugged before speaking. “I just know you aren’t going to like my suggestion.”

At the clueless look on the man’s face, the woman explained, “Obviously, I’ll help you out being your partner, but even with the two of us we won’t be able to take Marcus out. We’ll need a crew. I can drive us out, but we need more muscle and someone who can get eyes on Marcus or at least know how to get into his hideout. He’s guaranteed to have that place locked down.” The woman watched the man to see his reaction to her suggestion before slowly pressing forward, “Look, I know you haven’t talked to him in a while, but Gavin probably knows someone who could help and he’s the best theft I’ve seen. He’d be able to get us in with no problem and if he knows someone trustworthy we could get their help. Plus, you know Marcus’ll have a stash of cash and probably some drugs to sell so we’ll be able to pay whoever helps.”

“I haven’t talked to him? Gav hates my guts right now and you know it. Don’t act like I’m just not talking to him like we had a little spat. I doubt he’d lend me a buck if I were gonna die otherwise let alone take out a crew with us,” the man said huffing. He reached up to tweak his mustache for a moment before looking at the woman again.

“He might hate you, but he owes Griffon. If you told him it was to protect her I’m sure he’d agree to help. Besides with the way he acts if you bought him a flashy pair of sunglasses or something I’m sure he’d forgive whatever happened with you two,” the woman said, grabbing the man’s phone from the side table. Her nails clicked on the screen as she looked through the contacts to find the person she was talking about.

The man seemed to weigh his options for a moment before conceding. “Fine Jack, you win.”

Taking the phone from Jack, the man pressed it to his head, knowing she would have already started the phone call. As soon as he heard Gavin pick up the man started talking, “Before you hang up the phone hear me out. Griffon needs help.”

There was a long pause and Jack began to wonder if it was a bad idea to tell the man to call Gavin.

“What the bloody hell do you need this time Geoff?”


	2. The Golden Boy

The Golden Boy aka Gavin Free, well known around Los Santos and parts of the world as a master thief, didn’t know why he always had a lust for more and more in life. It just seemed to run though his blood. His hands were always antsy for something to be in them, some new toy he didn’t have but knew he needed. It didn’t matter if the toy would be useless as anything other than a paper weight just that he wanted it and when he wanted something he got it. He was just that good.

At least in his head he was that good.

In reality? Well, Gavin didn’t like reality so he chose to continue thinking he was the best of the best. And it was that that got him into trouble. Though he knew to be more careful then that, he couldn’t help himself. He was a wanted criminal, but he would speed and drive at insane speeds and in ways that anyone would assume was either a death wish or just some idiot behind the wheel. It was amazing he didn’t have a room filled with tickets, but then again with the way he drove cops often let him go because it was too dangerous to follow him. His life choices did have an advantage sometimes.

Unfortunately, in this though it seemed like he made a poor choice. Geoffrey Lazer Ramsey. He was an overconfident, alcohol chugging, asshole in Gavin’s mind. After all, if Geoff had just listened to him things would have been different, but it was Geoff. Of course he wasn’t going to know when he was in too deep. To see his situation Geoff would have had to pull his head out of his ass for more than the second it took him to down a bottle of booze. For some unknown reason (Gavin told himself it was because his finger slipped), Gavin picked up the phone when Geoff’s name lit up the screen. Maybe the asshole was going to actually apologize for once in his life. With all that had happened between them, Gavin knew he’d forgive Geoff the second he apologized, but the old man was too stubborn for that.

As Gavin answered he couldn’t deny being curious about it as he was with all things. Honestly, his curiosity was bound to get him killed one day. Once Geoff started with his don’t hang up bit, Gavin’s thumb was already heading towards the end call button until he heard something about Griffon. Yeah Griffon, Geoff’s better half. Gavin loved her and owed her his life. She had helped him out when Geoff had and hadn’t screwed over their relationship. Gavin felt like he owed Griffon even more than Geoff and if she was in trouble, Gavin was going to do whatever he could to help.

“What the bloody hell do you need this time Geoff?” Gavin snipped, harsher than he meant to, but hopefully it would get across the message that Gavin didn’t want to faff about with something that had nothing to do with him if it didn’t involve Griffon like Geoff claimed it did.

There was a pause at that and Gavin felt the temptation to hang up rising swiftly again. He didn’t have much patience in the first place let alone when he was miffed by someone.

“Someone put a hit out on Griff. I need to kill the asshole who put it out so it doesn’t happen again. She could- I could really use your help,” Geoff said sounding nervous.

Gavin smirked a bit at the way Geoff was talking. Good. He wanted Geoff to be nervous the bastard deserved it. Though… at that thought there was a pang of guilt in the back of Gavin’s mind. A part of Gavin knew that he should have forgiven Geoff at that point in time, but Gavin was nothing if not stubborn as possible. Sighing to himself, Gavin forced himself to refocus on the conversation at hand. It sounded like Geoff had started rambling on about nothing at that point. That was part of why he hated phone conversations though. It was impossible to know what was really going on with the other person. For all Gavin knew Geoff could have been having a laugh at him.

“Geoff stop talking for five seconds so I can respond. Look I’ll come by your place in a couple hours and we can discuss it then, but if you’re having a laugh with me then I’ll come back with my friend to blow your place up,” Gavin said impatiently. He knew that he could get Michael to blow up Geoff’s place for a little bit of money and that would be bloody hilarious to watch. Maybe Gavin would do it anyway. It was always funny to see Geoff sputter and stare like he was going to implode if what he was seeing was actually happening. It was one of the reasons Gavin enjoyed playing pranks and jokes on the older man.

There was some whispering and muttering on the other line as Gavin waited for a response. He could hear a woman’s voice and assumed that Jack was there with Geoff. She was one of the only people who could reign Geoff in and get him to do something he didn’t want to. Gavin was sure that Jack would tell Geoff that having him come over would be best. After all, the fact that he hadn’t just hung up immediately should have been promising. It was in Gavin’s mind. Not that he’d admit it.

“Alright. See you at 5, Gav-in.”

Gavin could hear the stutter in Geoff’s voice as he almost called him Gav. It was a nickname and Gavin had yelled at Geoff the last time he’d used it. Not after the incident had happened. It was reassuring that Geoff was respecting his boundaries and the fact that he didn’t want to get too close to him again. Hopefully that meant that Geoff wouldn’t try anything stupid with him.

“At 5,” Gavin said before hanging up. He briefly wondered if he needed to ask his bodyguard to come with, but decided against it. If Geoff wanted him dead, he knew where he lived. Hell, he probably knew that Griffon had a key to his place. Not that Griffon would let Geoff kill him. She liked Gavin too much for that to happen. Besides it would actually be kind of nice to see Geoff again. Gavin had to admit he missed having Geoff around to make dumb bets with and to ask questions too. He’d never admit it to Geoff though. Not in a million years.

Turning around, Gavin looked at the people around him for a moment. He was on one of the more ritzy streets of Los Santos to pick pocket and steal from the people wandering around, but the phone call had soured his mood a little bit. It was too bad. He had wanted to find Michael something to say thanks for his help on their last gig. Gavin would just have to wait to do that. Or buy something like a normal person. But really what was the fun in that?

\----------------- 

“Are you happy now?” Geoff asked with a frown at his lips. He could tell Gavin was still peeved at him. Quickly, Geoff grabbed the bottle of alcohol next to him and ignored Jack’s disapproving look staring down at him. In Geoff’s mind, he knew that this was going to be his last drink of the whiskey given that he didn’t want to make a jackass of himself when Gavin got there, but Geoff wasn’t going to let Jack have the satisfaction of being right.

Smiling lightly, Jack only said, “He didn’t immediately hang up on you.” At the deepening of Geoff’s frown, Jack gave a hearty laugh before moving into the kitchen of the small apartment.

With Griffon gone most of the time, Geoff didn’t need a large place. Plus, he didn’t want to mooch off Griffon and even though he and Jack were a great team for performing small heists it wasn’t all that good of money all the time for them. They both managed, but Geoff did have to borrow money from his wife sometimes. Though, in exchange he kept an eye on her enemies in Los Santos in case of this exact situation. Geoff hadn’t told her about the hit threat yet. He wanted to handle it on his own so she wouldn’t even need to worry about it. He hoped the sentiment would be appreciated. Griffon was scary when she was mad at him.

A bang interrupted Geoff’s train of thought and made him jump, spilling some of his whiskey onto his lap. Glaring over at the kitchen, Geoff set the bottle down and stood up, shaking himself off. Great, he needed to change now. “What the fuck are you doing over there, Jack? Trying to give me a heart attack?”

Jack ignored him in favor of rummaging through his cabinets and looking at what food he had there.

“Seriously man what the fuck are you doing?” Geoff said standing up and going over to his friend to watch what she was up to.

Lifting her head up, Jack frowned at Geoff. “Seriously how to you survive only drinking alcohol and never eating? It’s a wonder you’re not dead already. Come on Geoff, we’re going to go to the store and get some groceries.”

Giving Jack a puzzled look, Geoff crossed his arms before demanding, “And why are we doing that? You hungry or something?”

A smile formed on Jack’s face and she chuckled a bit. “You invited Gavin over at 5. You know about dinner time? I’ll cook us something good to chat over and hopefully some food at a table will keep you two civil for at least a little bit. Maybe if I buy groceries you’ll not waste away into a puddle of booze,” Jack said standing up and walking towards door. She grabbed her jacket and put it on carefully before looking over at Geoff. “Come on. I’m going to make steak and potatoes. I know that’s your favorite so stop being pissy and let’s go.”

Grumbling something about all the bossy women in his life, Geoff followed before grabbing his somewhat ragged suit jacket and went out the door. He put on a pair of sunglasses before looking over at Jack. “You and everyone else in this damn city are going to be the death of me one of these days I just fucking know it.”

 

The grocery trip didn’t take them that long. Jack knew that Geoff would have all the spices and such that she needed, she just wanted to get the actual meat and potatoes to cook for the night. As Jack opened the door with her hips, carrying all the groceries in her arms, she looked back at Geoff. “Hey Geoff you know we’re going to need more people than just Gavin, right?”

Geoff made a sound in the affirmative before Jack continued, “Maybe we should ask Burnie for some help. I know you and he don’t exactly see eye to eye since you broke off from them to be independent, but I mean his contacts are the ones who told you about the hit on Griffon so the fact that he’s helping you with that means he can’t be that angry at you so maybe he’ll be willing to help. At the least maybe his crew would be able to cause a distraction to draw off some of Marcus’s men so there’s less of a danger for us.”

A glare was shot Jack’s way for a long period. Jack was acting like Geoff had just talked to Burnie about getting out of the business and then left without any bad blood between them. Sure, Jack hadn’t been physically there, but she’d been in the gang with Geoff at the time and she must have heard what had happened. Geoff could remember what happened, at least what happened in his mind. Burnie let a little girl get killed because he was being a greedy asshole and Geoff had tried to stop it and he had gotten chewed out for it. Geoff had been blamed for the girl’s death even though he was the only one telling Burnie not to get a kid involved. Children didn’t belong in their lives; Geoff had learned that well with Gavin. Geoff didn’t hate anyone more than those who got kids involved in gang life; he could remember what it had been like when he was just a kid. After Burnie had caused a kid to die, Geoff had never felt safe following his lead. Geoff left without a word to his old friend and Burnie almost sent out a hit on him. A few years had passed since then and they had rebuilt that bridge, but Geoff still didn’t like owing Burnie anything more than he had to.

“Geoff…” Jack said quietly before frowning. She knew that after a kidnapping gone wrong Geoff didn’t want much to do with Burnie, but other than that she didn’t know anything. All she knew was that a couple of months after Geoff had left, Jack had gone to see Burnie and Burnie had told her to go watch after Geoff. It was nice because Jack was only in that gang because of Geoff, but she hadn’t followed him when he’d left because she wasn’t sure Geoff wanted her to. Burnie had been able to see that she wanted to follow him and let her go.

“What?” Geoff snapped turning and looking at her angrily.

Jack sighed and looked away from Geoff for a moment before saying, “We don’t need to ask for Burnie’s help. Gavin will know someone to help us and if not, I’ll try contacting one of the solo people around the city. We’ll get Marcus without any problem alright?” Jack wasn’t sure if she’d added that last part for her sake or for Geoff’s, but she really did hope that things would work out alright without any real casualties or issues.

The response seemed to please Geoff as he nodded and walked into the kitchen to start setting out pans and spices that Jack was probably going to need for the food she was planning on making. “We’ll get Marcus one way or another. I just don’t want to involve more people than we need to, Jack. Even just asking Gavin to come help with this is more than I wanted. And I know, before you start getting on my dick about it, I know we wouldn’t be able to do it with just you and me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish it could be just you and me. I’ve caused Gavin enough shit without dragging him into me and Griff’s messes, but the world doesn’t fucking revolve around my dick so I guess I’ll just suck it up and deal with it. Especially with the help of a shit ton of booze.”

At that, Geoff dug around in the fridge and pulled out a beer before uncapping it and drinking a swig of it. He didn’t meet Jack’s eyes though as he took one of the bags from her and started taking out the food. Just the feeling of Jack’s eyes on him was enough for Geoff. There was no need for him to actually see the pity in her eyes.

As Jack’s eyes tracked Geoff’s movements, Jack considered saying something to him or at least asking if he was going to be okay, but she decided to remain silent. Jack knew that if she pushed Geoff too much he’d just push her away and bottle up his feelings even tighter than before and Jack didn’t need to deal with the explosion that always resulted from him bottling up his feelings. “So I need you to peel these potatoes if you don’t mind. I remember you don’t like cooking on the stove top after that time you took off your eyebrows.”

“So you remember that I don’t like cooking and yet you just keep forgetting to delete that photo of me without eyebrows?” Geoff said crossing his arms and looking at her.

“Yeah it’s weird, right? Just like how you said you’d remember how much I hated bats, but somehow you decided on April Fools to rent a bat and still have that picture of when it shit on my hair.”

“Touché asswipe.”

Jack chuckled and shook her head before turning back to the task at hand. She passed Geoff a peeler and the sack of potatoes before setting about making the steaks for their night that in no way could possibly go wrong. Jack was pretty sure if the night didn’t end in something getting set on fire it would be a success.

Geoff had just finished mashing the cooked potatoes per Jack’s instructions when there was a knocking on the door. Looking at the clock for a second, Geoff took a deeper breath before walking over to the door. It was five after five. At least Geoff could count on Gavin to be fashionably late as he always seemed to be. Stealing his face, Geoff knew he needed to seem calm and relaxed or else Gavin would dig into the weakness and piss him off and then nothing would get done and Geoff would be fucked.

Opening the door, Geoff opened his mouth to say hello to Gavin, but before he had the chance the Brit pushed into the apartment and snapped, “Alright Geoff let’s make this quick. I’ve got things to do tonight.”

The door was shut quickly after Gavin came into the room and Geoff calmly replied, “Well, Jack fixed up dinner for us so we could talk over it and decide what we want to do from there. Hope that won’t be a problem.”

Gavin let out a frustrated sounding huff before turning and looking at Jack with a much more pleasant expression. “Heyo there Jackie! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. I was just going to come and go real fast, but if you’re cooking then I’d be a right idiot not to stay, yeah?”

A smile was flashed Gavin’s way before Jack returned to her task at hand. “Thanks for coming on such short notice, Gavin. It is really nice to see you again. We should get together outside of being around Geoff sometime. I know you need the food, skin and bones that you are. It’s a wonder that the wind doesn’t blow you over,” Jack said with a hearty laugh at her own joke.

Laughter followed Jack’s joke, but Gavin’s expression soured a bit when Geoff started talking again. “How about we sit down and I’ll explain what’s going on.”

Stalking over to the table, Gavin took a seat before practically glaring daggers at Geoff. “You said someone was going after Griffon. I assume you’re trying to get to that person before they get to Griffon and need my help. You must have buggered your situation at Burnie’s if you need my help though,” Gavin said with a shrug.

Geoff felt a spark of anger rise at Gavin’s assumption that he’d done something to stop being with Burnie’s gang, but Geoff quickly quelled the anger. “Marcus Antonio, do you know him?” Geoff asked, pausing until Gavin shook his head. “He’s some smug asshole who thinks he runs the city just because his crew has done a few good heists. I guess he was trying to expand his power buy getting some better weapons and ammo by outsourcing it. I know you know that Griffon smuggles things into the country from other places. Marcus tried to make a deal with Griff and get her to sell him stuff, but he insulted her or tried to get around her price or some other shit so she didn’t make a deal with him. She may have also said some shit that embarrassed him in front of his boys so now he wants her dead. Some shit about showing people that they better accept what he gives or else they’ll end up dead. Obviously, I’m not going to let that fucking happen. I need to get at this fucker and protect Griff.”

“Where do I come in?” Gavin asked, seeming interested in what Geoff was saying. He may have had something against Geoff, but he really cared about Griffon and didn’t want anything to happen to her.

“Dinner’s ready!” Jack chimed in before Geoff could answer. She came over to the table carrying a plate with three beautifully cooked steaks and a bowl of steamy potatoes along with a plate with some steamed broccoli on it. Setting it all down on the table, Jack also grabbed three plates and silverware to set on the table. Once it was all set down, Jack noticed that Gavin seemed to still be watching Geoff and waiting for an answer. Since Geoff was just staring off to the side, Jack decided to pipe up, “We were hoping that you’d be able to get into the street cameras around Marcus’s hideout so we can figure out when he’s got the least amount of people there and when he’s there and such. We’re hoping to do this with the smallest group we can so we don’t have to get too complicated. With your eyes on him and maybe if you can ask around a bit, I think we’ll be able to get to him without too much problem. It’ll be hard, but at least not suicidal.”

At the answer, Gavin grabbed one of the steaks and seemed to relax a little bit. He was a lot better at listening to what Jack was saying than Geoff. Gavin blamed it on the grudge that he was still holding again the older man. Gavin served himself food and looked across the table at Geoff. If not for Geoff, Gavin never would have been the pickpocket he was. He’d never been able to decide whether he was thankful for what Geoff did or if he hated Geoff, but at this moment he knew that his decision had been made the second he’d picked up the phone and answered Geoff’s call. Of course he was going to help. No matter how much Gavin pretended to hate and be pissed at Geoff, Gavin couldn’t ever abandon the part of him that looked up to Geoff and practically worshiped the ground he walked on. Geoff had been the closest thing Gavin had ever had to a good father figure and there was very little Geoff could have done to destroy that attachment.

Geoff, at this point, was sweating bullets. He didn’t know if Gavin was going to help and the intense way Gavin was staring at him, Geoff was definitely nervous about it. For all he knew Gavin could have been there to get revenge by killing him or something. Flinching as Gavin stood up, Geoff watched his movements as the golden boy went and got a glass of water. He didn’t know what to think. Geoff couldn’t even pretend to know what was going on in the British man’s head. All Geoff knew was that he probably needed to just let Jack do the talking given Gavin’s reaction whenever he opened his mouth. It was almost like Gavin was trying to hate him as much as he could.

The silence stretched on for a long time, the only sound being that of utensils scrapping against their plates and the soft sound of chewing. Jack was waiting for Gavin to give his answer, knowing that the young man would answer when he was ready. Geoff was trying to not squirm under the pressure and worry for Griffon. Gavin was enjoying watching Geoff squirm and worry for once.

It was when Gavin finished his food that he finally spoke again. “Thanks Jack that was tippity top!” He flashed a wide grin at Jack.

“I’m glad you liked it. It’s really simple to make. I’m sure I could teach you sometime if you ever wanted to learn.”

“Nah, with the rate at which I seem to catch on fire that sounds way too dangerous for me to even try cooking.”

“What do you eat if you don’t cook? You need good food, Gavin.”

“Well I eat out sometimes, but my friend comes over and cooks sometimes too. He’s not as good as you, but he’s alright. Plus if I don’t eat he’ll yell at me,” Gavin said with a laugh.

“It’s good you have someone looking out for you,” Jack said with a pleased smile. She worried about Gavin sometimes and it was nice to know he had someone looking out for him.

“Yeah… It’s a nice situation,” Gavin responded with a softer smile. He paused for a moment before looking over at Geoff. “I’ll help you, but for a price.”

“I don’t have shit to give you!” Geoff shouted, standing up quickly. So much for keeping his composure.

Gavin stood up too before glaring at the other. “I want a favor. Not now, but in the future. No questions asked, if I need you to do something for me you’ll do it. I help you with this and you’ll do what I ask later.”

Geoff knew that wasn’t a great deal. He didn’t know what Gavin would want, but Geoff also knew he didn’t really have a choice at that point. Beggars couldn’t be choosers after all. “You’ve got a deal.”

The two shook hands on it quickly and nodded at each other. There was another pause before Jack piped up again. “Well, since that’s settled, the only other thing now is that we’re going to need another person. We need some firepower if we’re going to pull this off. Geoff and I were hoping you might know someone, Gavin.”

Gavin smirked at that before saying, “Oh I know someone perfect for the job.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second chapter of the fic. I'm releasing it right after the first one just because the first chapter's really more of a prologue than anything. This is where things get interesting and after this chapter this is where I'll be posting the next chapter every two weeks. I hope you guys like it and find it interesting. Thanks for reading!


	3. Mogar

Mogar aka Michael Jones, known in Los Santos for his explosive personality and love of watching the world burn. His temper was wild and very few would chance angering it, but they knew he was a good one to have for help. Specializing in destruction and being able to mow down anyone in his path, Michael had a reputation for being explosively and horrifyingly angry. Enough of a reputation that people would think twice about doing something that might annoy him. That is most sane people would.

That’s why Gavin was interesting to Michael.

Michael had yelled and screamed at the other so many times, but he always just laughed it off. Sometimes it pissed Michael off and just made him want to shoot the British asshole and leave him there and the first time they met, Michael had almost done just that. Instead he’d gotten roped into Gavin’s crazy fucking schemes and had grown to like the other. Maybe Michael appreciated someone who didn’t cower whenever he raised his voice… Or it was the fact that Gavin threw money at him all the time. Michael liked to think it was the second option. That was, after all why he was so pissed that Gavin was late to their meeting.

There was an agreement to meet up at least once a week and do nothing other than plan heists together. Michael counted on it so he could make a little money and not have to worry about going back to being a rented-out bodyguard for dicks. Really, Michael was just a bodyguard for Gavin, but at least Gavin wasn’t horrible to be around all the time. Plus, Gavin paid well.

Pulling out his phone, Michael called his partner in crime. The phone rang for a few second before it dumped him into voice mail, indicating that Gavin had declined his phone call. Michael let out an angry huff as he tapped his fingers on the bar and waited for Gavin’s annoying voice mail tone.

“This is Gavino, if you’re ringing me I’m probably off being the best and too busy to answer. Just leave a top voice mail and I’ll ring you back!”

The tone sounded and Michael didn’t hold back. “Gavin where the fuck are you? Is your head to far up your ass to remember we were going to fucking meet to talk about working today or are you too busy to get off whatever dick you’re sitting on? Don’t think I don’t know you declined my phone call you British asshole! Call me back or else I’ll come find you and put a damn bullet in your knee caps.”

Michael clicked end on the phone call and shove his phone back in his pocket. He could feel a few people looking at him given the fact that he was shouting, but a glare sent their way made the nosy asshole turn back around and focus on whatever they were doing. After a moment, Michael waved the bartender down and ordered a scotch. He sipped at it and looked around. Gavin would call him back eventually and say something like “Oh my boi Micoo I’m sorry I didn’t answer I was too busy sucking my sugar daddy.”

At least that was what Gavin would say in his mind. Michael knew Gavin was probably actually making a deal or smooth talking some idiot into giving him all their money, but that didn’t mean Michael wasn’t pissed about being blown off. The only good part of it was that Michael could drink as much as he wanted to without Gavin there to tell him not to. Though, Michael didn’t have a ride back to his place if he drank too much. Michael wasn’t afraid of getting the cops onto him by drinking and driving, he just didn’t want to wreck his new ride. He’d saved up for it for a while and he would be damned if he let anything happen to it. Well, Michael guessed he could just see if he could leave it in the lot overnight and walk back to his place instead. That would be alright. Plus, if anyone fucked up his ride, Michael would find them and fuck them up just as much. He appreciated the eye for an eye method of dealing with things.

Trying to wait around for Gavin to see if he’d either call back or just show up late, after all Gavin just had to be “fashionably late” for everything, proved to be more annoying than the idea that Gaivn had decided to just hang up on him. After a couple more drinks, Michael decided he needed to leave before he shot whoever was playing such shitty music on the jukebox. He’d already okayed it to leave his car at the bar and get it later in the morning so Michael was ready to walk back to his apartment when he felt arms wrap around him from behind.

“Michael! I’m sorry I’m so late I had to meet with someone unexpectedly and then when I was trying to pick up your call I accidentally hit end and I dropped my phone off a balcony and couldn’t get in touch with you because of it. Fourth bloody phone to die this month!” Gavin said, practically hanging off Michael at that point.

Michael, who had tensed up at the feeling of someone suddenly grab him, relaxed a bit at Gavin’s voice. He knew the other wasn’t going to hurt him. If Michael hadn’t seen Gavin in action he’d believe the other couldn’t hurt a fly. This, however, didn’t stop Michael from shoving Gavin off his back and snapping, “What was so fucking important that you blew me off? You’re lucky I wanted a drink otherwise I’d be gone and you’d look even more like a jackass than you already do! Really? Fucking sunglasses inside? And what the hell have I told you about hugging me?”

Gavin spluttered a bit at this and quickly tried to remedy the situation, “But Micool I like hugging you! You’re like a big angry snuggly bear. And I got us a job too. That’s where I was… well kinda. I went to see someone I met back in England cause he needed a favor and they need more than just me so I said you’d agree to come help!”

“Oh yeah that makes everything better. Thanks for agreeing to something I don’t even know anything about with people I don’t fucking know,” Michael said glaring at the British man. It was then that Michael noticed the rosiness of Gavin’s cheeks and the slight sway in his step. This fucking idiot was hammered.

A sigh escaped Michael’s lips before he grabbed Gavin and sat him down at the bar. He knew he could just walk home and let the asshole deal with the the consequences of drinking too much while being such a light weight, but Michael figured Gavin would just end up following him and tripping and braining himself on some concrete. As funny as it would be to see Gavin eat it on the sidewalk, Michael knew he’d just get bitched at later about not taking care of him. Plus, Michael wanted to hear about the job Gavin was talking about.

“Hey can we get a couple of waters?” Michael asked the bartender. He figured he’d need the water too since he himself was a little tipsy. As the waters were set down next to them, Michael set one out in front of Gavin and said, “Alright, now tell me where the hell you were and why the fuck you got so hammered.”

Leaning against Michael, Gavin grinned up at his for a moment before chipperly saying, “I was with Geoffery! He’s a mingy prick. Did you know, Micol, I got shot once because of him?” Gavin shook his head and picked up the glass of water in front of him. He drank a little bit of it, but also managed to spill quite a bit on himself.

“I was just a lad in Britain when I met ‘im. Not really a lad. I think I was uh… 15? No no 16. I was 16 and he convinced me to run away from my home. I hated it there, but I shouldn’t have left. It’s hard leaving like that, you know? And then a few months later he got me shot and ran away! What a twat right? I can’t believe he’d bugger me like that. He was like a dad and he just left me!” Gavin cried loudly, sweeping his hands and knocking over the glass of water at that point.

rabbing the cup to prevent all of the water from falling out onto the bar, Michael just shook his head a bit. He knew about Geoff, but only a little bit. Gavin only talked about him and his past in England when he got drunk so Michael had dismissed a lot o it, especially since Gavin wasn’t exactly super coherent when he was drunk. “Alright so you went and talked to Geoff, why?”

“Griffon, his wife needs help! And I am a gentlemanly gentleman and want to help her. I owe her my life too. I need to help her even if she’s married to an asshole like Geoff. He was calling me up cause someone put a hit on her, the bastard. Some bloke named Marcus Antonio. But we… we’re gonna get him first! You’ll help me right Michael? You’re my boi. You’ll help your boi, right?” Gavin said, grabbing onto Michael again and looking up into his eyes like Michael held his entire fate in his hands.

So that was the job. Michael guessed that made sense. Prevent a hit from being completed on someone by taking out the one calling the shots. If what Gavin had said about their relationship was true, Geoff must have been desperate to call up Gavin for help. From what Michael knew Gavin would have rathered shot Geoff then help him with anything. So either Gavin didn’t hate Geoff as much as he claimed or Griffon really was important to him. Michael knew the British man was very loyal towards people he liked so it’d make sense that Gavin would be able to put aside his hatred to help someone he owed his life to.

“So where do I come in?”

A finger found its way to Michael’s cheek and poked at it for a second before the owner of said finger spoke, “I knew you’d agree to help me. We’re bois and bois stick together.”

Michael grabbed the finger that was poking his cheek and snapped, “I’m not agreeing to anything I’m asking what you want me to do before I say yes or no. You’re even fucking dumber when you’re drunk which is insane. With how stupid you are sober getting any fucking dumber should kill you.”

“Micool, I know you! You asked cause you know you’ll do it. You can’t hide it from me. You’re a big old softie!” Gavin latched himself back onto Michael and cooed up at him about Michael being a good person and nice.

The urge to argue with Gavin was strong, but Michael knew with how drunk Gavin was, there was no way the other would even listen to what he was saying. “Fine just fucking tell me what I’m supposed to do to help.”

“You’re gonna fuck people up!” Gavin said with a laugh as though nothing would make him happier than Michael fighting people for him. “I can’t fight well and we need two people to bip the people and one person for getting away! We got you for the bipping and Geoff for the bipping and Jack for the getting away and me for breaking in and stealing their stuff!”

That made sense to Michael. The reason he’d first met Gavin was because he needed someone to help him so it made sense to Michael that the other would want him to help keep him safe. Michael was a good shot and had acted as Gavin’s bodyguard long enough to watch after the other and still destroy people. Michael didn’t know how much of the information was accurate given how much Gavin had drunk, but Michael could assume the gist of it was correct. “When is it happening?”

Taking the glass of water and drinking a little more, Gavin said, “Geoff wants to meet you tomorrow and then come up with a plan. It’ll take a week for me to get the data we need by watching street cameras around his hideout and then we’ll fuck him up! Marcus not Geoff. Though if you took a swing at the old bastard I wouldn’t be upset even a bit!”

With the last sentence and a lovely flail from Gavin, Gavin almost fell out of his chair and was only stopped by Michael. At that point, Michael stood up and slung Gavin’s arm around his shoulder and put an arm around the Brit’s waist. “Come on let’s get you home before you break your little bird arms.”

Gavin, surprisingly, didn’t fight Michael and stood up with him and walked with him. He leaned a little on Michael as they walked out of the bar. Michael had settled the tab and just needed to get Gavin to his house before going back to his own and sleeping off the alcohol.

They were only walking for a little bit before Gavin stopped and looked at Michael. “Can I come to your place and sleep with you Micool? I don’t wanna be in my apartment by myself. It’s too cold!”

Michael’s first instinct was to say no and then shove Gaivn into the nearest taxi and leave without the leech hanging on his side, but as Michael looked at Gavin, he could see that Gavin was about to start into his second stage of being drunk. It was the stage of Gavin being drunk that Michael hated most. Maybe it was because Gavin was an ugly fucking crier when he let alcohol make him depressed or it was that Michael considered them friends and didn’t want to see Gavin in pain. Michael liked to say it was because whenever he took care of drunk Gavin, sober Gavin would come around with a present for him later, but really, it was more that Michael didn’t like seeing Gavin cry. It was then that Michael decided that he really didn’t like Geoff.

“Sure boi. We’ll have a slumber party. I’ll paint your nails and everything,” Michael said with a smile at Gavin.

\-----------------------------------

Next morning Michael woke up much warmer than he normally was. He was always a bit warm bodied and seemed to always be too warm if he had anything more than a sheet to sleep with. Cracking open an eye, Michael was greeted with the sight of a pale white back. Opening both eyes in surprise, as Michael didn’t remember bringing a guy home, Michael sat up and looked at the person closer. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Michael remembered the night before. He’d gotten Gavin back to his apartment after preventing the idiot from falling on his face at least five times. Gavin had puked up some of the alcohol and made a mess of his shirt so Michael had gotten to wrestle him out of that before wiping the puke off of him and getting him into bed. Michael had planed on sleeping on his couch, but Michael was dragged down to the bed by an octopus like Gavin and fell asleep being hugged by the other.

Sighing softly, Michael stood up and looked down at himself. He was still wearing his clothes, which would explain why he was so fucking hot. Gavin was pretty warm too and wearing clothes made Michael sweat all night long. He needed to take a shower and get ready for the day. Looking over at Gavin, Michael went and got a cup of water along with some pills to help the idiot deal with the hangover he was going to inevitably have. With that taken care of, Michael decided to take a shower to get rid of the sticky way his skin felt.

The shower was fast and with it done, Michael decided to make some breakfast, but as he was about to, Michael saw the sharpie he had on the counter and smirked. He did promise to paint Gavin’s finger nails.

After a short period of drawing dicks on Gavin’s nails, Michael was satisfied and went back to the kitchen to start up a breakfast. He would make some chocolate chip pancakes and eggs. He knew Gavin liked that and it would probably help him to feel better if Gavin got some food in him. The food was almost done cooking when Michael heard a loud whine and groan.

Smirking and laughing a little to himself, Michael set down the food on a couple plates and brought them to his bedroom. “Morning Gavvers!” Michael practically shouted his greeting.

Gavin recoiled from the sound and clutched his head. “Why would you do that to me Michael. My head feels like someone played football with it,” Gavin whined at the other. He looked up at the food and seemed to brighten up a little bit though. Gavin did enjoy being taken care of, even if Michael had a weird way of doing it. It was then that Gavin noticed the glass of water next to him and drank some of it. His mouth felt like cotton and the water helped a little bit. He swallowed back the pills there too, assuming they were put out by Michael.

“Well after your performance last night I figured I might as well have some fucking fun. You made me wait two hours for you and then showed up completely fucking hammered you know. And then if that wasn’t enough you made me fucking take care of your drunk ass. By the way your shirt is covered in puke,” Michael said grumpily. He set the plate down in front of Gavin before sitting on the bed himself and digging into his own food.

There was a comfortable silence as Gavin sipped at the water before venturing to try to eat some of the food and not get sick from it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten so drunk, but he knew this probably wouldn’t be the last. Sighing to himself, Gavin glanced over at Michael and contemplated what his life would be like if he hadn’t met the other. He’d be in jail; Gavin knew that much. Probably deported back to Britain too. Gavin was extremely thankful that he’d become friends with the explosive man.

“Thanks boi,” Gavin said, breaking the silence. “What all did I tell you about last night?” He couldn’t remember anything last night other than the meeting with Geoff, getting drunk at Geoff’s, and then announcing that he needed to go and see his friend.

Michael shrugged a bit and said, “You told me about your meeting with Geoff and the job that you’re helping him out with. Something about getting in and killing a Marcus. We’re supposed to meet with Geoff and someone else today right? I forget who you said it was. You were nearly incoherent and you kept fucking clinging to me. You’re like a fucking octopus when you drink.”

More pancake was shoved into Gavin mouth as he nodded to Michael. That was good that he’d already told Michael about the job, though Gavin was sure that he had gotten upset too. Geoff was always a touchy subject for him. He just hoped he hadn’t told Michael too much about it. Gavin didn’t like other people knowing why he was who he was. It felt too vulnerable really. Gavin didn’t like being vulnerable.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Gavin brightened up after a second and looked around. “Geoff and Jack… Hey Michael where’s my jacket?”

After Michael pointed into a corner, Gavin went over and started digging through the pockets of his jacket. A moment later, Gavin produced a ring of fake flowers with a cheeky grin. Gavin turned and went back to Michael, holding up the ring of flowers to him. “I nicked this off a stand by the beach today. I thought the blue and reds would look nice on you so I brought it for you! I was gonna give it to you when we met up last night but I forgot. The flowers are a bit dinged up but I think it still looks fine,” Gavin said with a soft smile. He hoped Michael liked it. Maybe a flower crown was a bit girly for the other, but Gavin knew it’d look nice on the other and Gavin like giving people he liked things. He was already planning on keeping an eye out for something to give to Jack.

Michael stared at the flower crown for a moment before his eye flicked back up to look at Gavin. He looked so pleased with himself for bringing Michael something, but also worried. Taking the crown and putting it on top of his curls, Michael tried to give Gavin a reassuring smile. “It’s cool man. Could you imagine what the media would say if we robbed a place wearing flower crowns? They wouldn’t know what to fucking do with themselves!”

Laughter filled the space as Gavin imagined what the news would say about it. “That would be top!”

Giving a laugh himself, Michael just shrugged and stood up. “Alright so when are we going to be meeting with these guys?”

“They’re going to come to my place around 3 and we’re going to talk about what to do. I should probably get back to my place and start working on getting eyes on the situation… Do you mind giving me a ride or should I just walk?”

“Fuck I forgot. My new bike’s at the bar from last night. I didn’t want to ride it after drinking and I knew you’d probably fall off it if I tried to get you home on it. We can walk over there together and then I’ll take you by your place. Hell, I’ll just stick around there. I don’t have shit to do here and it’ll beat having to make the trip to your place twice,” Michael said before walking over to his closet. He grabbed out his favorite jacket and threw it on before sticking his pistol in the inner pocket, safety on. He wanted to be ready in case something went wrong with this Geoff guy. Michael already didn’t trust him.

Gavin got up himself and was about to put his shirt and jacket on when he remembered that he’d puked on them. “Could I borrow a shirt?” Gavin asked only to have a t-shirt tossed his way.

Once Gavin was ready with the too big t-shirt on, he and Michael made the walk to the bar, having dumped their dishes in the sink and left. Michael’s bike was thankfully there without any scratches or problems. They both hopped on and went off to Gavin’s place. Michael made Gavin wear his helmet because he only had the one and Michael argued that he was safer already with having the leather jacket on and “not being fucking shit at any kind of driving,” to which Gavin tried to protest, but was shut down by the other.

The ride to Gavin’s place was calm and once inside, Gavin immediately went to his laptop to start looking at the hideout. Michael took off his jacket and hung it up and then set about playing the crappy old Xbox 360 Gavin had probably stolen from someone. The sound of Gavin typing away was pretty calming, but that didn’t stop Michael from yelling and cussing at the TV whenever the game didn’t go his way. Gavin didn’t even look his way though as he continued working almost obsessively. Michael knew that Gavin could get really into his work when he was trying to be serious. It was something Michael actually respected about the British man.

“Hey Michael do you mind driving me by to this hideout? I want to try to bug a couple of the cars there. I’ve been watching them for a while and they just got to the hideout and don’t seem to be leaving anytime soon. Listening in on them while their driving would be helpful,” Gavin explained calmly. He would go by himself if Michael didn’t want to accompany him, but he also knew that it would be much safer if he had someone there to play look out for him.

Michael paused the game he’d been playing and said, “Sure. You’ll keep eyes on them while we drive, right? That way we know if they leave or are coming out as we’re getting there.”

“You’ll have to drive my car then.”

“Fuck yeah,” Michael exclaimed. He liked Gavin’s car except for the hideous purple color it was. The car was really fucking nice and the only reason Gavin hadn’t wrecked it yet was because he didn’t drive much. Michael was pretty sure Gavin had gotten it from one of his “lovers” or as Michael liked to call them “idiots who let themselves get tricked by a British asshole and buy said asshole expensive shit because he’s a good fuck or some shit.” Gavin would always protest that he only slept with the classiest of people, but Michael was skeptical to say the least.

Getting up and snatching the keys, Michael looked back at Gavin to see what equipment he needed help getting down to the car. Michael had never seen Gavin bug anything before, but he knew that when it came to electronics and getting information about people, Gavin knew what he was doing. It was really impressive if Michael was honest.

Gavin and Michael easily got all the equipment downstairs and hopped into the car. Once in Gavin pulled up his laptop and set about watching the place again. “There’s still no one outside or anything. They must be pretty confident to not even leave one person outside to watch things.”

Michael hummed in the affirmative as he drove. “It’s a good thing for us if they’re fucking idiots. It’ll make it easier to kill all of them and take all their shit. I’m not going to complain about a fucking easy job,” Michael remarked with a shrug.

“True enough.”

The short response and sound of typing was enough to clue Michael in to the fact that Gavin was no long listening and was more focused on his laptop than anything else at that point. Not that Michael was going to complain about it. If Gavin was focusing it would be better for them.

Arriving at the hideout, Michael slowed down and kept an eye out. It looked like there was no one outside just as Gavin had reported, but Michael was never one to think everything would turn out alright. He pulled up on the other side of the car before throwing it into park. He was going to leave the car on so they could get out of there fast if they needed to. Pulling his gun out, Michael left the vehicle and looked back to see Gavin grabbing what he needed to grab.

Gavin went to the cars, his lock pick tools in one bag he was holding and the equipment to bug the cars in the other. There were two things he needed to find a secure and secretive place to put in the car. One was a microphone to listen in on conversations and the other to track where the car was going. Gavin was going to start on the car that he’d seen Marcus get out of because if that was Marcus’s car it would be more important to know where that one was. The other car had had what looked to Gavin like a bunch of cronies and by knowing where that one was, maybe Gavin could get a time where they would be able to hit the hideout with less people there. Plus, being able to listen in on conversations would be useful since the street cameras wouldn’t give him any sounds.

Michael stood near Gavin as he broke into the car without a sound. Michael kept his gun pressed to his side as he looked around. If anyone popped up, Michael would be able to warn Gavin and get him down before shooting at the person. That was the system they had worked out together at least. Michael would stand over Gavin and keep an eye out around them while Gavin would break in and grab whatever he wanted to get to. Once Gavin finished with the first car, they moved to the second one and Michael made sure to keep an eye out.

It was tense, standing there and just waiting for something to go wrong, but Michael was ready for anything that might come at them. A voice sounded near where the entrance to the hideout was after Gavin was getting finished bugging the second car.

“Gav we’ve got to go someone’s coming.”

“Just a couple more seconds, I’ve got to make sure their working.”

There was another voice that Michael could hear and it sounded even closer than the one before.

“Come on, we don’t have time, you’ll have to test it later.”  
“If I don’t get it set up right they could find it and then they’d just up their guard.”  
“That’s better than getting shot right fucking now.”

Michael could see a shadow just around the corner from them.

“I’m done let’s go!”

Grabbing the bag next to him, Michael sprinted across the street shortly behind Gavin as the British man made a beeline for the car. Glancing back to confirm Gavin was in, Michael threw open his door and tossed the bag in. He fired off a few shots at the person rounding the corner before getting into the car and slamming into drive. Micharl put his foot all the way to the floor on the gas and the car lurched forward. He could hear a few shots being taken at the car, but he knew none of them had hit. Glancing to Gavin, Michael snapped, “Check and see if they’re following us.”

Gavin seemed to wake up out of a stupor at Michael’s yelling and pulled up his laptop, checking the GPS trackers on the two cars that had been there. “No I think we’re okay. They’re not following us. Hopefully they just think this was a shitty attempt at a hit and not anything more,” Gavin said, letting out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding.

There was silence for a moment before Gavin looked over at Michael again. “Thanks for getting us out of there so fast.” Gavin knew that he wouldn’t have made it out without getting hurt if Michael hadn’t been there to help him out. It was a little frightening to think about what would have happened if Michael hadn’t come with, but Gavin quickly cast it out of his mind. Michael was there to help him and he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. At least, Gavin hoped he wasn’t going anywhere.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Michael replied calmly. He knew he’d saved Gavin’s ass more times than he could count, but Michael didn’t care. Gavin was fun to hang out with so Michael would try his best to keep him around. Even if he was annoying sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a few days early from the every other week schedule I was going to go with, but I wanted to update on Fridays instead of Tuesdays so that's the reason for the change from that. I might update every week if I keep writing things as quickly as I have been. This chapter is still a bit of setting up characters and their relationships with one another. Next chapter will include some more plot and actually start moving the story along. And don't worry more of the Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter crew is coming really soon. 
> 
> Anyway, leave a comment to let me know what you think about this fic! Thanks for reading.


	4. The Plan

Gavin and Michael were playing video games together when there was a knock at the door. Michael cast a worried glance at Gavin. He wasn’t sure how well the British man would deal with Geoff being in the apartment for the first time since Gavin had moved in. It wasn’t really much of Michael’s business, but he was there so he would care. If this Geoff guy tried to pull anything then Michael would be there to get the asshole to step back.

Not looking at Michael, Gavin pushed himself to his feet with a soft sigh. He walked over to the door before hesitating for a moment there. It felt like letting Geoff into his home would be like letting Geoff back into his life, but well that was ridiculous. Gavin knew he was reading into things too much and needed to stop being so daft. Pulling open the door, Gavin gave both Jack and Geoff a grin. “Hey, come on in. Mogar’s already sitting on the couch. Mogar this is Geoff and this lovely lady is Jack!”

Geoff and Jack entered the apartment, looking around for a bit. Geoff was about to offer his hand to Gavin’s friend, but stopped at glare that was being shot his way from the curly haired man. From the glare, Geoff could gather that the man knew that he and Gavin had a poor relationship and already made a judgement about him. Great. It wasn’t like having Gavin hate him was enough.

“Nice to meet you Mogar. Gavin says you’re really good at what you do. No need to tell us your real name, by the way. I understand if you want to keep your identity a little secret from us. It’s much safer that way I suppose. Either way I’m sure working with you will be great. I’ve heard about your skills with explosives and look forward to seeing you in action,” Jack said with a kind smile.

It was a little strange for Michael to see the different between Geoff and Jack. Hell, even Gavin treated them in completely opposite ways. It was strange to watch, but at the same time kind of interesting. “My name’s Michael. It’s only fair you know my name since Gav already told me both of yours,” Michael said calmly. He was still staring down Geoff. It was nice to see the older man sweat a little bit. It made Michael feel dominate.

“Let’s get to business then,” Jack said chipperly before taking a seat on the arm chair off to the side.

Gavin nodded in agreement before sitting on the couch next to Michael. He hadn’t missed the way Geoff’s eyes widened in surprise when Michael called him Gav. No one had used that name other than Geoff before Michael after all. Well… there was one other, but Gavin didn’t like to think about him. “I bugged two cars today. One I saw Marcus get in and out of a couple times today so I’m fairly certain it’s his. Neither of the cars had anything interesting audio wise. I can set up your computer to also receive the video and audio if you want so you can also keep an eye on it. I don’t have any jobs for the next few days so I can watch it. Michael offered to watch it when I do need to get stuff done so we’re alright on that front. I know you want to get this done fast, Geoff, but a week really isn’t long enough to get a read on any habits or patterns Marcus has. The best I can give you is watching and seeing when there are less people and then going then. But it’d be spontaneous and dangerous.”

“I don’t care if it’s dangerous. It needs to be done before anything happens to Griffon,” Geoff snapped quickly before realizing that Gavin was just trying to be rational with his advice.

“Calm your fucking tits,” Michael retorted. “He’s not fucking saying it’s not going to happen he’s saying it’s going to be fucking hard without the extra time.”

“Guys let’s all calm down. We’re all on the same team here. Gavin, I think just having you watch to notice any patterns is good enough for us. And if you don’t notice any patterns maybe we can set up a sort of stake out and we’ll position ourselves to be ready to hit him at any time a certain day. Maybe you can come to my place sometime this week and set up the bug audio on my computer so I can listen to it and all you’ll have to do is watch the video. A little division of labor,” Jack said, trying to be the peacemaker.

Geoff leaned back against a wall and let Jack run this. He knew that if he had to make the plans he’d only end up causing either this guy Michael or Gavin to start yelling at him and Geoff really didn’t need that headache.

As everyone looked to Jack to continue their planning, she continued, “I think it’ll be good for Geoff and Michael to spend a bit of time together. You two can see what resources you have and look at the plans of the building to decided what the best approach we can take would be. You guys are our muscle so it’ll be better to enter the building where you think is best. I’ll be our get away driver and Gavin can be your back up. He can stay back a bit and watch behind while you guys move in. Maybe even if you guys distract all the people Gavin can try to sneak around and get to Marcus. That way you’re sure he’s not going to get away. I’ll also make sure that while hanging out by the car to get anyone who might try to run away. We’ll want to leave as few survivors as possible to avoid retaliation.”

 “Gavin’s not a fighter. He shouldn’t be getting into a fire fight,” Michael said without thinking about what Gavin might want or think about Michael speaking for him.

A disgruntled noise let Gavin at that. He knew he wasn’t the best fighter, but he was decent and he didn’t need Michael admitting his weaknesses in front of people. “I can fight Michael! You just always get in the bloody way or kill them first. Besides you’ll need me there to break into the place. You don’t know how to pick a lock and Geoff’s just as bad as you are at it! I don’t need a babysitter watching after me either. Jack that sounds like a great plan. I’ll take Marcus down while Geoff and Michael distract his crew. It’ll be fine. I’ll leave the laptop with you too so you can watch the other sides and see if anything’s coming our way or someone gets out where you’re not positioned,” Gavin said quickly. He knew Michael was just trying to look out for him, but at the same time, Gavin didn’t want to be seen as uncappable. He was plenty strong and knew how to fight. Maybe not as well as Michael or Geoff, but Gavin was decent at fighting and he wasn’t going to let Michael say shit otherwise.

There was a bit of silence after Gavin spoke. It seemed like Michael wanted to protest more, but didn’t want to piss Gavin off so he was just sitting there steaming. Jack seemed to be trying to figure out a way to smooth over the conversation and Geoff seemed to be looking anywhere that wasn’t Gavin. After a moment though, someone broke the silence.

“I think Michael was saying you don’t have to fight if you don’t want to risk it. You’re good, but you’re also the only one of us who knows how to do what you do with technology. Risking you is riskier than me or Michael. We’re always in the line of fire. You’re normally not,” Geoff said, looking over at Gavin finally. He wasn’t going to repeat the mistakes of the past and put Gavin in the line of fire when he wasn’t ready to be there. Geoff cared too much about the younger male to make that mistake a second time.

Gavin stared at Geoff for a moment before letting out a huff. He crossed his arms and looked away like a pouting child. He knew that Geoff was just saying that because he was concerned, but Gavin didn’t want Geoff to be looking after him. Gavin wasn’t a kid anymore, he didn’t need Geoff watching after him anymore. He hadn’t needed Geoff for a long time and Gavin wanted to keep it that way.

“Well since that’s all settled I guess Geoff and I will get out of you guy’s hair. Gavin can you give Michael our phone numbers that way he can get in touch with us if he needs anything? I really think it’ll be a good idea for him and Geoff to plan a bit together. Maybe a day before we’re going to enact our plan though we should all get together and discuss our separate parts of the plan so we’ll get it all together well. Six days from now, right?”

There was a murmuring of affirmatives after Jack spoke and she nodded at all of them, seeming pleased that their discussion had ended without any violence. She had been a little worried after the way Gavin had left the night before. She stood up quickly before going towards the door. When she noticed Geoff wasn’t following though, she stood still and waited to see if he was planning on following her or not.

 Looking at Gavin for a little bit longer, Geoff wasn’t sure if he wanted to say what he was thinking, but fuck it he was going to stop being a piece of shit for once. “Gavin, I’m glad I’ll be working with you again. I know it’s not anything other than words, but I hope you’ll be able to forgive me one day,” Geoff said before turning and quickly heading for the door. He didn’t look at Gavin and didn’t even pause before opening the door and rushing out.

Jack gave a quick wave before following Geoff out and closing the door behind her.

The tension in Gavin’s fists didn’t release as the door was shut behind the other two. Gavin felt like he wanted to punch a wall or something. Gavin needing to forgive Geoff? As if Gavin was just being stubborn over nothing. Sure Geoff probably didn’t mean it that way, but that was the fucking way Gavin was taking it.

“Want me to go punch the shit out of him?”

There went the tension though. Gavin let out a short laugh before it melted into a strong and sharp laughter. The idea of Michael chasing after Geoff to punch him was pretty funny. Geoff would probably try to run away and would yell a bit and Jack would be there worrying over him and trying to pull Michael off while Michael cussed and yelled. Gavin smiled over at Michael and slapped him on the back.

“I’d said yes, but you’d probably just give him a bloody boner and I don’t want to put my boi in any situation with that old fart’s dick,” Gavin said with a cheeky grin.

Michael laughed a bit at the idea of someone getting a boner because of him attacking them. Sure there were some people who would get turned on by that and well, Michael had actually slept with some of them, but Michael wasn’t interested in Geoff at all. Once Gavin stopped laughing, Michael grinned and said, “Give me their phone numbers later. Let’s get all beved up and then we’ll play a racing game and see who sucks the most at it. I’ll even drink twice as much as you so you actually have a fighting chance.”

“Oi! I’m not that bad at racing games you mingy prick! I do just fine both sober and drunk. You’re the one who sucks at video games.”

“Awfully defensive there Gav.”

“I’m not being defensive your mother’s being defensive!”

“Shut up and put the fucking game in the Xbox.”

\---------------------------------

It was actually a couple days later that Michael found himself at Geoff’s to go over inventory and what different things they’d want to get together to pull this fight off. Michael wasn’t sure what to feel as he walked up the steps to Geoff’s apartment. It was a little exciting to see what someone else had in their collection, but Michael was also a little weary around the older man. Michael was slow to trust new people and given Gavin’s dislike for the other, Michael wasn’t sure if he could really even trust the other. It was a war inside of him to tell if he was excited or upset about going and working with the other man.

Checking his phone quickly, Michael was tempted to text Gavin and ask him if he wanted to come get in on the equipment assessment, but Michael didn’t. He knew Gavin didn’t want to have anything to do with Geoff if he didn’t have to, especially after Geoff had left the way he did the other night. Sighing, Michael reached out and knocked on the door.

There was a bit of noise from the other side before the door swung open to reveal Geoff in sweat pants and a t-shirt. He had a beer in his hand, obviously expecting this to be a casual meeting. That angered Michael a little bit, but he held his tongue as he pushed into the apartment.

“Want a beer?” Geoff asked as he watched the other come in. He’d already had a couple of beers. Sure, it looked unprofessional as hell and probably looked like he wasn’t taking Michael seriously, but Geoff had needed the alcohol in his system to take the edge off. Having someone who was known for his temper already not like Geoff and then being in a place alone with Geoff was making Geoff really nervous. It was doubtful that Michael would attack him, but Geoff couldn’t get the idea of it happening out of his head so he’d had a couple beers before Michael was planned to arrive. Just enough to take a little bit of the worry off of him.

Michael’s instinct was to decline, but at a glance of the beer bottle in Geoff’s hand, Michael knew the older man had the good stuff and Michael put his instincts aside for a moment. “Yeah give me a lager if you’ve got one.”

A nod was given to Michael before Geoff pushed the door shut and moved into his house to get Michael a beer. Grabbing a bottle out of the fridge, Geoff opened the bottle before offering it out to the shorter man. “If you’ll follow me, then. Most of the stuff I’ve got is hidden in the closet next to my room. I’ve got a little hidden panel there I built myself so people wouldn’t be able to find my shit. Did you bring a list of your supply like I asked?”

“Yeah it’s in my pocket. It’s not much though. I haven’t restocked in a while so if we need more we’ll have to go to Ammunation or something,” Michael replied with a shrug. He had a few grenades and a good amount of ammo for his pistol and two miniguns, but that was about it for him. He used to keep a better stock, but with working with Gavin most of the time he was just there to keep lookout and shove Gavin’s head down when things looked dangerous.

Walking towards the back of his closet, Geoff gave a nod to indicate he had heard the other before saying, “I don’t think we’ll need to go to get anything. I’ve got a pretty good supply back here. It’s one of the perks to being married to an arms dealer.”

With that, Geoff went into his closet and fiddled around for a second, feeling along the wall. He muttered something about knowing the knob was somewhere in there before finally getting the right spot of the wall. He pushed his fingers into the wall and a space about the size of a door detached from the rest of the wall. Geoff swung it open and revealed his stash of weapons.

Michael’s eyes widened the second he saw what all Geoff had in the closet. It was more than he’d ever had. There was even a fucking RPG in there. “Fuck,” Michael muttered before drinking some of his beer. It was then that the dots connected.

“Wait Griffon Ramsey? That’s who we’re preventing a hit on?” Michael couldn’t believe he hadn’t connected the dot earlier. Griffon was practically a legend around the crime rings in the country. She was known for being able to smuggle practically anything she wanted in and out of the country, particularly weapons and other things. Michael almost couldn’t believe this was the person he was being contracted to help. But that would make Geoff… That would make him Geoffrey Lazer Ramsey. One of the upper crust of Rooster Teeth. The gang wasn’t that well known, but still it was powerful. Michael had wanted to join them for a while, but never pursued it. It didn’t make sense though. If Geoff needed help why wouldn’t he just ask his gang. Unless Geoff was no longer a part of it. Michael stared at Geoff for a second before looking at the beer that he was holding in his hand. He was sharing a drink with someone who was almost a legend in his mind. It was insane. But Michael remembered that wouldn’t change Gavin’s issues with Geoff, though… Michael was curious even more than before.

“What happened with you and Gavin?” Michael asked before he could help himself.

Geoff seemed taken aback by the sudden change of topic. He stared at Michael for a second before looking away, ashamed. “It’s a long story. I’m surprised he hasn’t told you. You guys seem close.”

A shrug was given in response to Geoff’s statement.

“To make a long story short, I was in England with Griff. I was helping her seal a deal over there. I needed to get in with a gang and convince them to buy from her. It wasn’t too much trouble. I did some jobs for them to get them to trust me and was getting ready to seal the deal when I met Gavin. I think he was what… 14 or 15? Pretty fucking young. He didn’t know what he was fucking doing with his life. I’m sure he doesn’t say shit about his parents, but they were both assholes. Gavin wasn’t good enough for them, it still pisses me off thinking about it. Anyway, he was a fucking rich looking kid and I decided to mug him just for the fun of fucking with a kid. When I pointed my gun at him… Let’s just say it almost looked like he wanted me to pull the trigger. I didn’t. I didn’t want a kid’s blood on my hands. I decided to talk to him instead. Found out about his life. I told him to run away. Said I’d help him get set up outside of his parents. That I’d take care of him,” Geoff said, trailing off after a minute and staring down at his hands.

Geoff knew he’d failed to keep his promise to Gavin, but he was younger back then, not all that much older than Gavin was. He was only 25 back then. “I was going to get Gavin into the gang I was cozying up to. Maybe even see if Griffon couldn’t help bring him to America with us. I had one more job with the gang… just a favor for them letting me in. I brought Gavin with. It was supposed to be pretty easy. I…” Geoff paused, trying to figure out how to explain what had happened. “Gavin saw something on the guy’s face that we were making a deal with. It was some sleazy drug lord. Gavin’s really good at reading people, but I didn’t believe him when he told me this guy wasn’t trust worthy. Gavin kept trying to tell me that something was wrong and I kept shoving him off and saying there was nothing going on. We’d only been working together for about two weeks, but I think he saw me like I was a second chance for him to have a happy family.”

It had been nice, exhilarating to have a kid following him around and looking at him like he controlled the way the earth moved. It made Geoff feel like a god. Geoff had gotten cocky because of it. He thought he could do no wrong. And boy was he wrong about that.

“The guy pulled a gun on us. He was about to shoot me, but Gavin pushed me out of the way. He saved my life and got shot in return,” Geoff said, shutting his eyes. His fists were balled up so tight his knuckles were white. He could still picture it, still hear it. Gavin’s small hands shoving him, just barely strong enough to push Geoff a foot. The scream that tore out of Gavin when the bullet hit him instead. The gun shots of Geoff’s gun as he emptied it into the guy. Looking over Gavin as the kid started to bleed like crazy. Not knowing what to do and decided to call the police and run away. Geoff had left Gavin there. The kid had clutched at him and tried to hang onto him while he was trying to leave. The way Gavin’s grip on him had slowly weakened as he bled. Geoff would never forget it. He could never forget that day.

“I left him too. Called an ambulance and just left. He begged me to stay and I didn’t. I didn’t even check back in on him. A couple days later Griffon had finished her deal with the gang and then we left,” Geoff said with a deep frown. He continued after a moment, “Four years later I get a phone call from him. I didn’t know he had my phone number, but he asked for Griffon’s phone number. I didn’t know why, but I wasn’t going to say no to him. Not after what I had done to him. A couple months later I asked Griffon about it and she said that he’d asked her for some help. That he’d gotten into trouble and was asking her to bring him to America. She said when she got to him, he looked horrible. Like someone had tried to kill him. Griffon said he almost shot her when she walked in to get him. She said he was paranoid about someone coming to kill him. She took him and got him set up in America. Helped him get set up and be able to live here in Los Santos. I tried to get in touch with him, but he didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“We’ve talked a few times before now, but he’s never forgiven me. I don’t really deserve his forgiveness either, but I want to make up for what I did. I want to let him know that I never stopped thinking about him either. I was just too scared to find out what had happened to him. I’ve never gotten a kid involved in this life again and I never will. Kids don’t deserve being in this life. They deserve a chance at happiness. Gavin could have been some respectable lawyer or some shit like that if I hadn’t come into his life,” Geoff finished. He looked down before glancing over at Michael. Geoff wasn’t sure why he had shared all of that with the other.

Maybe Geoff just wanted someone to understand what had happened and why he’d acted the way that he had.

“Fuck I’m gonna go get another beer. I’m too fucking sober for all this feeling sharing,” Geoff said going to leave the closet. “Take whatever you want from there out and put it in that bag over there. You can use whatever from my storage that you want to. Griffon always takes a cut of what she’s smuggling and gives some to me. Besides I’m ready to go all out for this so whatever you think you’ll need. Use it. We’re killing Marcus even if it takes everything I’ve got.”

With that, Geoff left.

Michael stood there, still in the closet. It was a lot to think about. It made sense now why Gavin didn’t talk about knowing Geoff or Griffon. Michael was curious what happened in England to cause Gavin to need to run away that way. After a moment though, Michael started to feel a little guilty that he’d found out so much about Gavin’s past without asking the British man himself. Michael was pretty sure that Geoff had only told him all he had because of the alcohol. Sighing, Michael shoved the feelings down and told himself he couldn’t punch Geoff for what happened, as much as Michael wanted to. So instead, Michael just looked to the weapons and started picking out what he wanted.

The bag was filled with things that Michael thought he would need when Geoff finally came back from the kitchen. He had another beer in his hand and Michael was easily able to tell that Geoff’s red puffy eyes were because the man had been crying, but Michael didn’t say anything.

Michael chugged back the rest of his beer before pointing at the bag. “I put a few things in there. The two shotguns and an RPG. I figured if shit hits the fan the RPG might be a good back up plan. And I’ve never used one before and really fucking want to,” Michael said before chuckling a little bit.

A grin was shot Michael’s way. “If you want to we could take the RPG and fuck around with it. We could go up to Mount Chiliad and shoot a few of them. I’ll bring some booze with us and some food. It’ll be like a fucking picnic,” Geoff said happily. The idea of going up to the mountain and shooting rockets in the sky was a lot more appealing to Geoff than anything to do with talking about feelings anymore.

“Sounds fucking awesome to me,” Michael replied with his own excited grin.

Geoff quickly grabbed the RPG from the bag and the launcher for it. He dragged out another bag before putting both in it and a few more pieces of ammo. Sure it was expensive, but Geoff fucking loved screwing around with that kind of shit. Once it was in the bag, Geoff gestured for Michael to follow him and they both went to the kitchen. Geoff started putting some beers into the bag before looking for food in his fridge. “I don’t really have any food in here. We could invite Jack. She’s good as dicks at cooking.”

“I don’t care. If you invite her I might see if Gavin wants to come. He’s been working so much I’m pretty sure he’s forgotten that eating is important to survival,” Michael said calmly. He wasn’t sure how Geoff would feel about it, but he knew Gavin needed to eat. He’d been glued to his laptop for the past two days and Michael had been swinging by to make sure he was taking care of himself, but Michael was pretty sure Gavin wasn’t doing that well.

“That’s fine with me, give me a second to call Jack,” Geoff replied before grabbing his phone out of his pocket and going to his room to call his partner in crime.

Michael took that to mean he needed to call Gavin. Pulling out his phone, Michael stepped outside onto the balcony and called Gavin up.

“Hey boi how’s it going?”

“It’s alright. Geoff had a fucking rocket launcher in his fucking closet. We’re going to go up to Mount Chiliad and shoot it a bit and drink beer. Geoff’s calling Jack and she’ll bring some food. I uh… I know you and Geoff have issues but I thought you might like to come shoot explosives and hang out. You’ve been working so much and I think you deserve a bit of a break. You can’t just keep working or else you’ll work yourself to death,” Michael said sounding worried for the other.

“You don’t understand. I can’t let anything happen to Griffon. I need to make sure this works.”

“I understa-”

“No you don’t!” Gavin interrupted.

Michael let out a loud huff as Gavin snapped at him. “Shut up and fucking listen for a second. Geoff told me what happened okay? I know, well not all of it, but a lot. I know that Griffon helped you get to America and that you left England on really shitty terms, but killing yourself by working so much isn’t going to do shit for her. Plus, I think you and Geoff should try to talk. You guys don’t have to be okay with each other, but just fucking I don’t know. I’m shit at feelings, but just come up to Mount Chiliad with us and shoot some rockets and don’t work yourself to death. You don’t have to fucking talk to the guy at all if you don’t want to.”

It was worrying to see Gavin over working himself this much. Michael had never seen the other this way and he wanted Gavin to be alright.

“You’re my boi. I’m worried about you,” Michael admitted quietly.

The line was silent for a few beats before Gavin finally said, “Alright I’ll meet you guys there, but I’m not talking to him and I’m not bloody happy he told you about what happened.”

“Bring extra beers. If I get drunk enough I’ll challenge him to a fight.”

“You’ve got a deal my boi.”

\---------------------

Gavin drove himself to Mount Chiliad and was regretting it as he rode his Sanchez up the steep dirt road. For one, he felt like he was about to fall asleep and fall off his bike and for another, the bike really didn’t handle well on the dirt road. He had a backpack on with a few beers and a flare gun that he owned. He thought it would be fun to shoot along with the rockets. As he rounded the last bend to get to the top, Gavin wasn’t surprised to see Michael and Geoff standing there and getting the launcher ready to shoot.

As Gavin turned his bike off and set out the kick stand, he could hear Michael shouting something at him. That was all the warning he got as Michael set off the launcher and a rocket blasted off into the sky. Gavin watched it streak across the sky before exploding in the sky and grinned. “That was brilliant!”

The night had always been comforting to Gavin. He felt like he belonged with those stars and bright lights. It was calming to just sit outside and watch the stars. It’d been so long since Gavin had just relaxed and watched the sky too. He was suddenly very glad that he’d agreed to come. Walking up towards the two, Gavin then noticed that Jack was sitting by them on a blanket with some food sitting out in front of her. A yawn escaped Gavin’s mouth and he rubbed at his eyes as he stopped next to the two.

“You look like shit,” Michael stated bluntly.

Gavin gave a gasp, acting like he was offended by Michael’s words. He heard a chuckle from Jack and decided to ramp up the drama. Putting a hand over his heart, Gavin looked at Michael and said, “Micool how could you be so mean to me!”

“Not mean just the truth. You need to take a fucking break from work. Eat a fucking sandwich before you wither away into nothing,” Michael said pointing at the blanket. It had a few plates on it and each plate had some bread and meat and other things to make sandwiches with.

Jack rubbed her neck lightly before saying, “It would have been more than just this, but Geoff called me on such short notice, this is really all I had in my fridge so I figured I’d bring it. Those two have been drinking a lot too. I don’t know if they’re trying to get drunk enough they blow their dicks off with that launcher or what, but that’s what’s going to happen.”

“Good thing I brought more beer, right?” Gavin said with a cheeky grin as he pulled off his bag. He held up the beers to the two and they grinned at him.

As Geoff reached out to grab one, Gavin pulled back a little and said, “Oh no you bloody alcohol gremlin. I actually want to drink a few of these before they disappear.” Gavin wasn’t going to mention that he’d already had a couple of beers before coming to the mountain, but he still wanted to drink even more and Gavin knew the rate at which Geoff drank.

There would have been an argument about wanting beer, but Geoff was really just happy that Gavin was even speaking to him. “Then drink the fuck up! It’ll be a goddamn party.”

Shaking his head, Gavin set his bottles down and pulled one out. He struggled for a moment trying to open it before Geoff suddenly grabbed it out of his hands, seeming to be too intoxicated to walk on eggshells around Gavin. “I’ll get it. You never could get bottle caps open yourself,” Geoff murmured to himself as he took the bottle and hooked the cap on his back teeth before popping the bottle open.

“I told you to stop opening bottles that way!” Jack cried as Geoff handed the bottle back to Gavin.

“Yeah and I told you to get off my dick,” Geoff said gesturing at his crotch. “Boom!”

At that moment Michael let off another rocket, the loud boom from it happening just seconds after Geoff’s words left his mouth. The older man jumped at the unexpected noise and Michael just laughed at him, wildly. Setting down the rocket launcher, Michael slugged Geoff in the arm and said, “You gonna have a fucking heart attack you old man?”

“I’ll give you a heart attack,” Geoff said leaping at Michael and getting him into a headlock before giving the younger man a noogie.

Gavin sipped at his beer and watched the two nearly start wrestling with one another. It was actually almost nice watching them just mess around a bit. It was like they were all just friends hanging out. Like nothing had happened between Gavin and Geoff and everything was okay. Gavin could almost forget that the only reason they were hanging around together was the murder they were planning. It was funny the way the world worked. Looking up at the sky, Gavin felt like the stars understood and appreciated the humor in it too.

“They’ve been at this ever since they got here. Geoff brought a shit ton of beer with him here and those two drank it all,” Jack said with a shrug. “There wasn’t even any beer left for me when I got here. Leave it to Geoff to demand I drive up a giant mountain to bring him food because he’s incompetent at taking care of himself.”

A laugh left Gavin’s mouth. “Yeah well he’s fucking lost without Griffon. Here you can have one of my beers. I wasn’t planning on drinking all of them myself anyway. And if you want to shoot something without getting into that mess I’ve got a flare gun. It shoots out golden flares!”

“Aren’t those just yellow flares?”

“Way to be a killjoy.”

Gavin spent a little time talking to Jack before he found himself laying back and watching the sky quietly. It was nice to listen to Geoff and Michael shooting shit and Jack’s quiet munching as she ate her sandwich. Gavin almost felt like he was sinking into the grass as he stared up at the stars for a moment. His eyes felt heavy as they slowly drifted to sleep, silencing Gavin’s thoughts of a normal life and hanging out with friends that didn’t involve murder plots. It was a nice thought…

Too bad it’d never happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention this earlier but I have a tumblr where I'll be posting headcanons and other stuff for this fic if you're interested in it. You can also message me and ask questions or anything if you want. http://fahc-dusttostars.tumblr.com/ is the link. The story picks up a lot more after this chapter and starts to move a lot faster by the way. Though it'll still be a bit of a slow build until we're about 8-9 chapters in. Just to warn you. Other characters will get added in soon too. Hope you enjoyed! Please comment with your thoughts. I like to know what people think about things. 
> 
> Also workaholic!Gavin is my favorite thing ever.


	5. Failure

To say she was nervous would have been a sever understatement. Jack could feel tremors running through her as she strapped a knife to her leg and double checked that her gun was loaded. It wasn’t that she was new to gun fights or killing people, but taking out Marcus and his crew was a lot more and a lot harder than anything she had done. At least anything she had done with only four people. In Burnie’s gang, Jack had been the getaway driver for a few hits about the same size, but she also was normally meant to fly a chopper to get away from the police afterwards. Her being the getaway driver was less of making sure to not get caught by the cops and more about if shit hit the fan and they needed to run away from Marcus’s crew, Jack was in charge of getting them out there.

To say the least, Jack was really nervous about the whole thing. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt. Geoff was basically a brother to her and she enjoyed the time she had spent with both Michael and Gavin so far. It was probably odd to be a worrier in this business, but Jack couldn’t help it. She was a worrier and always would be. That was half the reason that Geoff had grown attached to her after all. Well, not really why Geoff had come to like her, but more of the reason why she and Geoff had been partnered up in the first place.

As Jack shoved her pistol in its holster at her side, Jack couldn’t help but remember their first meeting. Geoff had been half drunk at the time and looked like he was slowly starving himself to death. Jack had immediately felt a concern for him and since Burnie had asked her to watch out for him, Jack tried to.

It was funny too. That night was the first and only bar fight Jack had ever been involved in. She chuckled to herself remembering it. Seeing Geoff challenge someone to a fight and then immediately regret his decision wasn’t something Jack saw often, but it had been funny seeing the way his face changed when he realized he’d gotten himself into deep shit.

Geoff would have gotten the shit beaten out of him if not for Jack and she was pretty sure that was the only reason he’d agreed to keep working with her after their little trial basis. It had even gone as far as them living together for a while. Though, that had been Jack’s idea because she’d gotten pissed off at Geoff’s lame fucking excuses of forgetting to eat. She didn’t understand how someone could be so inept at staying alive. They still almost lived together. Jack had just accidentally been the victim to Geoff and Griffon having no boundaries one too many times to keep living with Geoff.

The thought of Griffon did cause a pang of jealousy to run inside of Jack though. It wasn’t that she was jealous of the relationship that Griffon and Geoff had, but more that Jack wanted a partner like they had. She really wished that she had someone to come home to and to rely on like that. Jack did have Geoff to rely on, but it wasn’t the same, not in her mind at least.

Shaking the thought off, Jack quickly ran through a checklist in her mind to make sure she wasn’t missing anything she needed. Gun, knife, back up bullets, light body armor, keys to the lightly armored car they had, and a full tank of gas in said car. That all sounded right. Oh and she couldn’t forget the snacks she was bringing. They were going to be sitting in that car for at least a couple hours and Jack didn’t want to have to listen to anyone bitching about being hungry or thirsty.

Moving back to her kitchen, Jack pulled out some of the snacks and extra food she had laying around and put it into a bag along with water bottles. Checking her watch, Jack noted that it was almost time to get going. She had to pick up Geoff and then drive them to the meeting point with Michael and Gavin. It was decided they would ride together to the hideout, but in getting away they would drive to the meeting point before splitting up. It was harder to chase two targets after all.

Walking back to the door and exiting, Jack hoped Geoff would be sober for once during this ordeal. She needed him to be in good shape and focused for this. In the past, Geoff had made a rule to never drink or do drugs on the day of a job, but it had been a while since Geoff had been out on a job so Jack didn’t know if that rule had been abandoned like so many other rules. Laughing a bit to herself, Jack thought of the rules that had been broken. Most of them were a little funny. Like when Jack had tried to enforce Geoff eating three meals a day and he’d make up excuses like “I ate a peanut that counts right?” or the ever famous “who needed food when you’ve got booze?” Looking back, Jack should have known that was going to be a frequently violated rule. She didn’t really care that much about it either. Geoff never crossed lines she had set out that were truly important. After the first night they met he’d never instigated a bar fight, her oldest rule for him.

A smile snaked its way up onto her face after a moment. Jack felt strangely hopeful for this job. Almost like it was going to change things for her and Geoff in a really good way. She hoped it would. Jack had dealt with enough disappointment in her life already.

Getting to Geoff’s apartment building, Jack stopped and rang Geoff quickly to get him to come down. Once he entered her car and placed his bag of stuff in the back, Jack smiled at him. “Did you eat breakfast this morning? If not there’s some snacks in the bag. I knew there was a possibility of us having to stake out the hideout for a while so I made sure to bring stuff for everyone. Breakfast is important too so you should eat,” Jack said, flashing Geoff a smile.

Geoff grumbled something at Jack before rubbing his eyes. He didn’t understand how she could be so chipper being awake that early. He was tired as dicks because he’d been too nervous to go to sleep the night before. That combined with being up earlier than Geoff had ever willingly gotten up equaled a very grumpy and tired Geoff. He was almost annoyed by the way Jack didn’t seem put off by his grunt in her direction. Not that Geoff could really be annoyed by Jack trying to keep an upbeat attitude. He’d only seen Jack truly upset a few times and Geoff wasn’t really interested in repeating the experience. Jack deserved to be happy. Everyone did and Geoff wanted to do his best to keep them happy even if he fucked it up.

Maybe that was why it bothered Geoff so much that he couldn’t make things up with Gavin. Well, Geoff wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. After this, Geoff was going to try to keep in touch with Gavin and not let the British man slip away again. Geoff knew that just giving Gavin space wasn’t going to fix anything and so he was determined to work hard to mend their relationship. Geoff wouldn’t fail a second time.

“Geoff are you listening?” Jack asked when she slowed down to stop at a red light. She’d glanced at Geoff to see him staring off into space.

“What? Of course I’m paying attention my ears aren’t stuffed with dicks,” Geoff replied almost automatically. He hadn’t been listening and he wasn’t quite sure if his statement even made sense, but he was going to stick to his guns.

“Yeah sure you are. Make sure to eat something while you’re listening to me with those dickless ears buddy,” Jack said with a smile on her face. She knew Geoff well enough to know that he wasn’t listening, but she wasn’t going to let him off without making sure he ate at least a little something.

A shrug came from Geoff as he replied, “I’m not hungry.”

“I don’t give a fuck if you’re not hungry you still need to eat.”

“Go find someone else to nag. I know your world revolves around me and my massive dick, but you need to find some other people to mother.”

“Don’t worry once Michael and Gavin join us I’ll make sure to force food down all your throats. Hopefully for their sakes, Michael and Gavin actually ate food.”

“I’ll bite you.”

“I’m not scared, I’ve pilled cats before.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me bitch,” Jack said with a smirk as she pulled into the meeting point. She parked for a moment and looked around. Gavin and Michael weren’t there yet, but that was alright. Michael had warned them that Gavin would probably make their team late.

Turning around to look in the back of the car, Jack grabbed out a couple of protein bars and a pack of gummies before sitting back straight. She passed one of the bars to Geoff and said, “Just eat the fucking protein bar and I’ll drop it.”

Geoff seemed like he was going to argue, but just sighed and grabbed the bar. He opened it and glared lightly at Jack for a moment. He took a bite out of it and looked out the window. His stomach was all twisted up and he felt like he was going to be sick. It’d been a while since he’d been in a fire fight like this would was inevitably end up being and Geoff was nervous. It wasn’t even that he was scared that he’d get hurt. Gavin bleeding out was all Geoff could think about. Or Jack getting hurt trying to cut someone off from escape. Hell even Michael getting hurt would be a nightmare. Geoff felt responsible for dragging these people into his business and he didn’t want any of them to get hurt on his behalf.

“We’re going to be fine,” Jack said, once again breaking the silence. She’d been around Geoff enough to guess what he was thinking about. He always seemed worried whenever someone other than his was going to be in the line of fire. Jack didn’t know why, but she had a feeling it was a remnant of his past.

There was no response from Geoff and as Jack was about to comment on it, another car rolled up beside them. Michael and Gavin both got out of the car, Gavin holding a laptop and a pistol and Michael carrying a bag that Jack assumed was his gear. Both of them looked fairly grim, but Jack couldn’t blame them. This was serious and dangerous business. Plus, Jack knew it was risky working together without having all worked together before. If they’d had more time they probably would have had more time to prepare such as going out and stealing something together to see if they worked well. Jack had faith though that they would be able to do it though.

As the car door opened, Gavin gave a grin to the lot of them and said, “Heyo! I was watching on our way over and there’s two cars there right now, but from the chatter in the cars it sounds like one of the cars is just a quick exchange of goods and then they’ll leave. I don’t think we’ll be minging about in the car too long then. My boi’s all ready to shoot people! Oh and I got some wires for us. I only have two cause they’re damn expensive, but I was thinking Jack and one of you two ought to wear one so if anyone gets out we’ll know. I figure I’ll be close enough to you two that if something bad happens you can shout it and let me know.”

Michael followed Gavin into the back seat of the car and set the bag down in between them, on top of Jack’s food bag. He opened it up and pulled out the two wires and passed one up to Jack. “You want me to wear it Geoff? Gav already told me how to use it and position it and shit so I figured it’d be good for me to wear it. Plus I can be loud as fuck when I need to be.”

A nod from Geoff was giving and Michael started putting the wire on.

“I’ll wait to put the wire on until we get there. That way we can watch and be ready while you explain how this’ll work, Gavin,” Jack said with a smile. “Oh and if you guys are dumbasses like Geoff there’s food back there. Breakfast is important so make sure to eat up.”

With that Jack kicked the car into gear and drove off to where they would be safely watching the hideout.

\--------------------

The wait to attack turned out to be a lot less boring than Jack had originally thought it would be, though it was mostly thanks to Gavin and his inability to stop talking. Whereas Geoff just got quieter when he was nervous, Gavin seemed to just keep talking and talking. Jack figured it was probably so he wouldn’t have to think too long or hard about what was about to come, but Jack also didn’t think she was in a position to judge how others dealt with stress. She normally just took her stress and focused it on taking care of other people than taking care of herself. It led to her not dealing with her issues and stress, but was helpful for others that she took care of.

Gavin was in the middle of asking yet again if anyone would do something ridiculous for one million doors when he cut himself off with a squawk. He started typing into his laptop for a second, staring intently at it and ignoring the confused glances shot his way. After a moment he stilled and looked up. “The other car just left, Marcus should be alone in there with a small amount of his crew. This is our best shot.”

The look on Gavin’s face was much more serious than before as he closed his laptop and set it to the side. He grabbed the gaudy gold pistol from the floor of the car and stepped out, shortly followed by Michael who had sprung into action the second Gavin had finished speaking. Gavin’s partner in crime had a pistol tucked in his jacket and two miniguns in either hand along with a belt that held three grenades. His goal was distraction and destruction.

A look was shared between Jack and Geoff before they both stepped out of the car as well. Jack left the keys to the car in the ignition and left her door open. She took her position slightly behind the car door, pistol at the ready. She was going to make sure the car was ready to go if they needed to get out fast and make sure if anyone came out that way that it wasn’t Marcus coming that way.

Geoff held his own minigun and had a pistol ready to go along with a couple of smoke grenades. He was going to help cause destruction with Michael, but he was also going to keep an eye on Gavin so if the British man got into any trouble, Geoff would be there to bail him out. Originally Michael was going to do that since Gavin trusted Michael more to get him out alive, but then Michael pointed out that he was a better shot than Geoff and knew how to time explosives so no one would get hurt other than the other crew. Geoff was pretty sure Gavin wanted to argue about it, but Michael had given the other a look and he’d not said anything afterwards. It didn’t take much for Geoff to know Gavin still wasn’t happy about it, though. It was a little frustrating that Gavin thought Geoff hadn’t changed at all, but Geoff also knew he couldn’t blame the kid for it. He was just all the more determined to protect Gavin because of it.

With a nod to Michael, Gavin started to the back of the building. He and Geoff were going to enter the back and Michael was going to enter through the front. There was going to be a pause to wait for Michael to give the signal for Geoff and Gavin to enter. Gavin knew he could handle himself in this, but he was still worried about what was going to happen. He didn’t like not having eyes on Michael while working a job. Gavin had gotten used to having Michael right on his back when he was going into the line of fire. It was a little weird to not have him there to watch his back, but Gavin had faith in the fiery man.

A breath left Geoff rather roughly as he followed along. He was trying to calm his nerves, but this almost felt too similar to the time Gavin got shot. It was weird to be in a similar situation. Geoff had never expected to be around Gavin this much after what had happened, but he just hoped he could make it up to the other. Geoff didn’t like being in debt to others and at that point Geoff owed Gavin more than almost anyone else.

Geoff watched over Gavin as he picked the lock to the back entrance to give them easy access. He made sure to keep an eye out for anyone walking nearby and also checked to see if Jack was in her position. It was hard to tell, but Geoff was pretty sure Jack was watching Gavin’s laptop to see if anyone was walking around outside. Gavin had given her the password to get in so she could watch the cameras while the action went down. Geoff had to admit that it was a smart move. While Geoff regretted getting Gavin into this life, he couldn’t deny that the man was suited for it.

“The door’s unlocked, now to just wait for Michael,” Gavin said sounding calmer than earlier.

A nod was given in response from Geoff as the older man thought back to other attacks he’d done. Most of them had been almost twice as many people and with much better supplies. A part of Geoff wished he’d not been so foolhardy as to charge into this without more prep or at least telling Griffon, but it was too late to change that now. Geoff just hoped Griffon was safe and happy. He knew she was out of the country at that point, but Geoff was worried what would happen when she came back if he didn’t deal with Marcus. It was a little scary. Griffon meant so much to Geoff, he couldn’t let anything happen to her. He owed her more than anyone in the world and she never held it over him. They were partners. Geoff would do whatever it took to protect her.

There was a loud shout suddenly and a thundering explosion. Geoff pushed through the door, raising his gun and looking around. There wasn’t anyone in this area. It looked like there was just some drugs stored around the area.

“No one so far. Remember Gavin, stay behind me and watch my six until you spot Marcus,” Geoff reminded the other as he started moving forward. He was going to keep people back long enough to let Gavin slip by to get to Marcus if people showed up. It was weird that there didn’t seem to be anyone around the back, but it meant the plan was working. Michael’s grenade must have drawn everyone to the front to find out what was happening.

As they moved towards the front of the building, Geoff saw chaos. He could hear Michael shouting cusses at the people there and heard the gunfire. A shout of “watch out! Grenade!” was heard by Geoff as he shot the first person he saw. There was another explosion and a few guys screamed, but Geoff was looking around to find Marcus. It took Gavin moving towards the man for Geoff to find him. Geoff followed a little bit, shooting into the chaos to keep them off Gavin back as the other ran towards their target.

Geoff could feel the adrenaline pumping through him as he landed a couple of shots and dropped someone. It was thrilling to be in the fight, shouts and screaming permeating the air as Geoff himself waded into the chaos. This was what he missed about the crew life. The thrill of fighting and knowing one bullet could drop him. Geoff couldn’t imagine feeling more alive than with the threat of death hanging over him. It was amazing.

Grinning widely, Geoff continued to shoot men down, a wild look in his eyes as he spotted Michael gun down at least three men at once with his two guns held at the same time. It was fucking awesome.

A glance towards Gavin sent Geoff’s heart sinking suddenly. Gavin was trying to sneak up onto Marcus and take him out without being noticed, but he’d been noticed and Geoff didn’t know if Gavin knew. Flashes of Gavin laying on the floor bleeding flickered through Geoff’s mind as he started sprinting towards the other screeching at the top of his lungs, “GAVIN DUCK!”

Gavin had been so close, just about to line up and take the shot on this asshole when he heard Geoff screaming at him. His first instinct was to turn and look at the other, but as he felt a shot wiz over his head, Gavin ducked his head down instinctively. It wasn’t enough though, Gavin realized as he spotted the person shooting at him. Raising his gun to return fire, Gavin could almost see his life flashing before his eyes. This guy had the drop on him, there was no way he’d get a shot off first unless the guy’s gun jammed, but as Gavin saw the man pull the trigger, his eyes shut and he braced himself for impact.

A cry of pain caused Gavin’s eyes to open instantly along with the spray of warm liquid on his face. Geoff had jumped in the way of the bullet at just the right time.

Michael knew something was wrong after the second grenade went off, but his shouting was drowned out in the noise it seemed. After the second grenade, more people seemed to pour out of the side rooms around and started shooting at him. He’d pushed over a table and taken cover, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t going to last much longer. He needed to move and find Gavin.

“Jack! Jack can you hear me?” Michael practically screamed into the microphone he was wearing.

“What’s happening?”

Michael could hear the concern in Jack’s voice easily. “I think we were set up, there’s a fuckton more people in here than Gav said there should be. I’m in cover, but I don’t have fucking eyes on the others. I don’t know what the fuck’s going on. I’ll try to get to them, but if I can’t you need to get the fuck in here.”

Pulling off his last grenade, Michael wasn’t sure if it’d be enough to get him to the other side of the area without getting shot, but he needed to try. Gavin and Geoff didn’t have any way of communicating with him or Jack and they could be hurt or worse without them even knowing. Checking the ammo levels of the two guns he had, Michael tossed one of the miniguns on the ground. He didn’t have any more ammo for it and he figured Geoff could just be fucking pissed about him leaving it if he wanted to.

The pin was pulled and Michael lobbed the grenade over his head and into the people around. He counted for a second before it went off and he stepped out from his cover, gun firing wildly as he charged through where the grenade had landed. He expected to get shot running through the open area, but as he sprinted through he noticed there was smoke around, obscuring his path. Geoff must have thrown the smoke grenades.

“Michael! Michael where are you?” Michael could hear Gavin screeching for him.

Following the sound of his voice, Michael felt his stomach lurch at the sight of Gavin pulling Geoff along the floor and shooting with his free hand. There was a streak of blood from where Gavin had started and Michael could tell he hadn’t made it far. Running over, Michael hooked his arms under Geoff’s shoulders and started dragging the man towards the door.

“Cover us Gav!” Michael shouted before yelling into the wire, “Jack, Geoff’s down. Gavin and I are making our way out, but you need to be fucking right there ready to go. There’s so fucking many of them.”

Gavin snatched Michael’s minigun from him and started shooting wildly at the people coming towards them, trying to give them cover as Michael half dragged, half carried Geoff out of the building. He walked back as he blindly shot into the smoke, trying to keep down and avoid getting a bullet himself. As soon as Michael was outside with Geoff, Gavin turned and ran out as well, pulling the door shut firmly behind them.

“Come on come on come on!” Gavin heard someone shouting at him as he ran to the car and got in.

The car immediately lurched forward as soon as Gavin shut the door.

“What the fuck happened?” Jack shouted as she drove along the road.

“I- I don’t know. Geoff, Geoff he uh he jumped in and I don’t know there was blood and fuck-” Gavin stammered along, staring into the back of the car where Geoff laid.

“’m okay,” Geoff slurred lazily. Everything felt heavy to him. Getting dragged across the floor wasn’t fun, but Geoff wouldn’t complain about getting a free ride.

“Michael apply pressure to his wound. I’ll get us to a doctor. Hopefully they don’t follow us- Fuck!” Jack cursed as she saw a car speeding towards them from the hideout. She put her foot down on the gas quickly and took a sharp turn, ignoring the sound of shots being taken at them. “Gavin roll down the window and see if you can get them off us! Michael stay down and Geoff I swear to fucking god if you die on me I’m going to kick your dick so far in it’ll reverse time and make it so you never had one to begin with!”

Gavin could feel his hands trembling as he rolled down the window and put his arm out to return fire. He never did well getting shot at after the first time he got shot and seeing Geoff bleeding out… Gavin felt like he was going to pass out, like the world was fucking closing in on him as he tried to steady his hands long enough to shoot back at the car chasing them.

Suddenly the car lurched to the side as the back window shattered, raining glass down on Michael and Geoff. Gavin turned to see what happened and saw Jack clutching her arm as she gripped the steering wheel and kept the car from careening into a building. It was easy to tell that she’d been hit. Gavin ducked down quickly and almost curled in on himself, terrified of getting hit at this point. He wasn’t a fighter, he was a hacker, a thief, he stayed out of the line of fire because he couldn’t handle it.

Michael luckily wasn’t freaking out. “Gavin lean back here and put pressure on the wound, Jack I don’t know where you’re going, but avoid going into the city if you don’t want cops fucking shooting at us too!” He quickly leaned out the now shattered back window and started shooting at the car behind them. A few bullets got close to hitting him, but after a minute of exchanged fire, Michael finally hit the tire he’d been aiming for, causing the other car to spin out.

“Get us to that fucking doctor Jack, Geoff doesn’t look good!”

Jack’s knuckles turned white as she pushed the pedal to the floor and prayed they would get to Caleb in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun writing a Jack focused chapter. From here on I'm going to be doing that style more where certain scenes will be still written in third person, but mostly from the perspective from a certain person. I just find writing easier that way.
> 
> Also I'm going to start writing little drabbles that are about how the characters got into this life and how they met outside of the fic. I don't know if I'll be posting them here, but I'll definitely be posting them on my tumblr for this fic. You can find it at fahc-dusttostars.tumblr.com/tagged/dtsdrabbles. I haven't posted any yet, but the first one will be posted sometime this coming week. 
> 
> Anyway, I'd love to hear thoughts, critiques, anything really. I hope you enjoyed reading. <3   
> Also hope you enjoyed that cliffhanger >:)


	6. BrownMan

BrownMan aka Ray Narvaez Jr., known in many dark places as one of the best snipers for hire the criminal world had and would ever know. Very few knew who exactly he was behind his pink sniper rifle and crude sense of humor, but many within the criminal world knew that if someone wanted a long distance shot taken, BrownMan was the one to talk to. He made a business of never sticking to one crew for too long and was known to be easily bought with a combination of food and money or a place to stay. Many people had a good opinion of the sniper, but there were those who had bad opinions. Though, the ones with bad opinions were typically the people whose friends had found themselves on the wrong side of Ray’s gun.

Ray didn’t give a fuck about making friends or enemies though. All he wanted to do was have a good chill life and make enough money with his sniper rifle to afford food, a place to stay, and a little weed. Oh, and video games. Video games were important to Ray. He was pretty proud of his gamer score even if he recognized that being good at video games didn’t mean much in his life. It was the small things that kept Ray happy. The small things and knowing that he was a good enough shot that until someone killed him he’d be able to live happy kept Ray going in life. Laying back on his couch, Ray felt his stomach start rumbling and briefly thought about going to get a little bit of food. Maybe he’d hit up a Taco Bell and get some shitty tacos. Ray did love Taco Bell. It was cheap and fucking delicious. Ray paused the game he was playing on his pink DS and set it down on the coffee table next to him. A glance into his apartment and things wouldn’t make people think he was the best sniper around or that he actually had quite a bit of money, but Ray wanted people to think that of him. If people just saw him as some cheap stoner for hire they wouldn’t think of him as a threat and if no one thought of him as a threat, then Ray would easily be able to kill any one of them he wanted.

Hopping to his feet, Ray patted his jeans to make sure his wallet was in place. After all a wallet with money was important for tacos. He couldn’t get tacos without money. Well he could if he wanted to rob the Taco Bell, but he liked being able to walk down stairs and get a shitload of tacos anytime he wanted to so he didn’t see any good coming from shooting up the Taco Bell that was right next to his apartment complex. Besides, Ray didn’t have anything against them. Maybe if someone paid Ray to do it, he’d consider it, but well probably not. Ray couldn’t imagine what dumbass would want him to shoot up a Taco Bell anyway.

Taking one last hit of the blunt sitting in the ash tray next to his DS, Ray sighed happily and was ready to leave when a phone across the room started ringing. Looking at it, Ray frowned lightly. It figured that his work phone would start ringing right when he was about to go get food. Ray couldn’t bitch though. The phone ringing meant getting money and money meant he could buy the newest game he wanted.

“This is BrownMan speaking how may I help bring death to your life?” Ray answered the phone, trying not to laugh at his own little joke.

The man on the other side of the phone was obviously surprised by the way he’d answered the phone if all the spluttering and noise was any indication. Ray snickered lightly and waited to see if there was a response. There was a muffled noise and Ray could hear someone yelling and another person responding, “I don’t bloody know. The way he answered the phone was bloody ridiculous Michael I was surprised is all! Wot? Oh right.”

“Uh hello there BrownMan. I’d- or we would like to hire you. I know you have a normal price, but I’d like to set up a meeting and discuss the details of it and the job.”

Ray couldn’t help, but attempt to continue fucking with the person on the other line. “And to what lovely gangster am I speaking?”

“Gavino.”

That name was a little familiar to Ray. Some thief or something. Gavino, probably a code name, but Ray doubted it was too far from the person’s actual name. Dangerous to use a code name so close to his actual name. So probably either someone confident in his abilities or too stupid to realize what was going on.

“Well Gavino, I’ll have to just check my death calendar… Hm it seems I’ve got a slot open today, will that work for you Mr. Gavino?” Ray did his best to imitate a shitty receptionist.

There was a pause and Ray got the feeling he’d confused the other again. “I suppose that’ll work for me. How about-“

“Meet me in twenty minutes, I’ll text you the address. I’ll allow you one other person to come with you, but if there’s more than two people meeting me I’ll kill all people I see on the spot,” Ray said suddenly, his tone changing to a more business like tone, the threat caring a darkness to it. Switching back almost immediately back to the other gag, Ray said, “Alright Mr. Gavino I’ll see you there.”

With that Ray hung up the phone before texting the number that had called the address of the Taco Bell right next to him. No one would expect him to be stupid enough to set up a meeting right next to where he lived. Besides with the time limit, Ray doubted the person would be able to set up an ambush or anything. That was why Ray did it so quickly. The number wasn’t from one of the gangs he recognized so Ray didn’t want to give some new person the chance to get the drop on him if it was a set up. If it was a legitimate job though, the person would show up and not try to kill Ray and would in turn not get killed by Ray.

Turning around, Ray grabbed the case that held his sniper rifle and a pistol. He tucked the gun into his side and left the apartment quickly. Ray also tucked his work phone into his pocket next to his personal phone before going to the stair well. Rather than going down though, Ray started heading up the stairs, quickly and quietly. He was pretty sure based on the way the person acted in response to surprises, it’d be easy to spot the person once he entered the Taco Bell. Though, Ray wasn’t going to be waiting in the Taco Bell for him. Ray would set up on top of his apartment building and if the guy seemed like a threat or was someone Ray knew as his enemy, Ray would shoot him and anyone else on sight. Ray had done this too many times to not be prepared for it.

As he reached the roof, Ray started taking out and putting together his rifle. He pulled out his work phone and checked it. There was a text from the unknown number giving a confirmation that they would be there in twenty minutes along with a picture of the person who had called so he would “recognize him.” This guy had to be a fucking idiot. No practiced criminal would just straight up send a picture of their face to someone they didn’t even know. It was idiotic, but that was good for Ray. Either this guy was being an idiot on purpose to lure Ray in and kill him which would give Ray a great opportunity to eliminate a threat or the guy really was an idiot and Ray could get someone extra out of the job. Either way Ray wasn’t going to complain about his win-win situation.

Peering through the scope of his rifle, Ray watched the Taco Bell entrance, waiting to see the face that had been texted to him. It was about 22 minutes later that the person showed up. Ray thought about refusing to meet him on the principle that he was late, but Ray was curious. The man had entered the Taco Bell talking to one other person and didn’t seemed to be armed at all. The person the man was with had a jacket on that he could have been hiding a gun in, but nothing heavy. It also helped that Ray didn’t recognize either of them. It seemed for all intents and purposes that this was a legitimate job. Good, Ray was curious about this job. It seemed to promise to be pretty fucking interesting.

Putting his sniper rifle back up, Ray slipped on the little white mask he wore when doing face to face meetings or jobs. Ray jogged back down the stairs and took in a deep breath as he reached the bottom. Maybe it was time to relocate to an apartment building with an elevator. He hated exercise of any form and running up and down stairs was too much of a hassle. Though if he moved he’d want a cheap food source right next to him. Whatever though, Ray would think about that when he wasn’t supposed to be focusing on a job.

Walking across the street, Ray entered the Taco Bell, not looking at the two he was there to meet. He walked up to the counter and ordered his food calmly. Well, what appeared to be calmly. Really, Ray knew that if he stood exactly where he was he could look up at the mirror to the side of him and keep eyes on the people he was there to meet. If anything happened or if they got up too fast, Ray knew he’d be able to pull his gun and shoot before anyone knew what happened. That was one of the perks of being an incredibly accurate shot. Ray never had to worry about missing or fucking up and getting hurt. Nothing happened though. Ray ordered his food and paid without either of the two moving. Hell they seemed to be too busy bickering to even notice that he’d entered the fast food joint.

Ray stood by the counter until his food came, but once he had it, Ray walked over to the two and dropped his tray on the table before plopping down in a seat across from the two. “Normally I wouldn’t do this, but you two are just too pretty to not come over and get your digits,” Ray said with a grin on his face as he started unwrapping one of his tacos.

It was easy to see that the man Ray hadn’t been sure was armed or not was indeed armed. He’d flinched and reached towards his jacket the second Ray’s tray had loudly knocked on the table. Good to know that one of them was armed. Ray made a mental note that if something bad happened to shoot the armed one first.

“Well hello then! I’m Gavino and this is my friend Mogar. I’d give you my number, but I have a feeling you’ve already got it,” the sandy haired one said with an easy grin.

Mogar… Ray knew that name. “Oh shit I’ve worked with you before. Mogar, yeah you’re the asshole who likes to yell at people and blow shit up. Sweet. That explains how you got my number,” Ray said around a mouthful of taco. He nodded a little bit at the two before continuing, “Alright well now that I’m here, what do you need me to get done? You obviously have seen my work before and know I’m good on my word. We’ll work out payment based on what you need me to get done so go ahead and talk.”

Ray took another bite of his food before saying, “Oh and Gavino’s a shit codename.”

“I bloody told you I should have said GoldenBoy. I know if sounds ridiculous, but at least it doesn’t have my name in it!” Gavino snapped, turning to Mogar quickly. “Alright whatever, my name’s Gavin so just call me that. Mogar’s told me you’re good at keeping your employers quiet. It’s nice to meet you in person BrownMan, I’ve heard a lot about you from around town. You’re a bloody legend you know? It’s down right impressive. That’s why I know you’ll be top for this job. Only one who could take this shot right?”

It was a little weird to have praise thrown on him. Ray was used to people just saying what they wanted and then leaving.

“So we need you to take two tricky shots and keep eyes on things. It’s not even a person we need you to shoot, just a power box and well, this is the tricky dicky, an antenna,” Gavin explained with a grin. “But I’m confident you’ve got it. I mean you’re the bloody BrownMan, a legend around here. Plus I’m pretty sure if you pull it off people will be coming after you for jobs even more than before. Maybe you can get an apprentice and teach him. It’ll be like a movie, right?”

Nodding along, Ray looked at them for a moment and said, “How much are you willing to pay for two tricky shots then?”

The grin on Gavin’s face slipped for half a second before Gavin leaned across the table. “Well we’re doing a hit on a small crew and since you’re being such a big help, I think we can get you a fourth of the haul from the job. The crew’s got cocaine and guns so it’ll be a pretty nice haul and you’ll get a fourth of it, more than the rest of us. Pretty hefty for just two shots, innit?”

Looking at the two people, Ray noticed that Mogar was being awfully quiet during this talk and assumed that he was just there to be the muscle, the in case anything happens murder everything. It was interesting seeing Mogar up close as a bodyguard. When Ray had worked with the crew Mogar was working in then, Ray hadn’t talked to the other at all, but had noticed how skillfully and easily he gunned people down. Not quite with the finesse that Ray did, but Ray was an assassin, a sharp shooter, not a hitman. “Your friend here knows that’s not how I work. Money up front or at least half of it if I know you’re trustworthy, or no deal. If you don’t have the money then you’ll have to find someone else.”

A look was exchanged between Mogar and Gavin before they turned back to Ray. Gavin seemed to be thinking about something as he searched Ray’s face for a moment. The look was much graver than Ray had seen the other’s face, but Ray didn’t think it held any hostility. If Ray had to place the look he’d say it looked more like desperation. Maybe in a different life Ray would have taken pity on the British man and agreed to his terms, but not here. Ray didn’t get the reputation he had by being soft on desperate people. He would stick to his rules or else he’d get walked all over all the time.

“How about a wager then? Everyone loves the thrill of a good old fashion bet right? It’ll be a bit of fun, right? And at the end of it, I think you’ll know we’re trustworthy enough to do the job and get paid after rather than before like you normally do,” Gavin said with a smile, the desperation in his eyes turning into a much different look. Hell even Mogar looked like he was smirking.

Ray’s eyes narrowed a bit. “What’s the bet?”

“I bet you won’t last three days if I put all of your personal information up on the net. You, Ray Narvaez Jr., have quite a few enemies if their and your previous employers records are correct,” Gavin said, his smile turning sinister.

Just as Ray was about to pull his gun and start shooting, he heard a familiar click, the sound of the safety of a gun being taken off.

“Put your hands on the table or this talk gets bloody,” Mogar growled at him.

Ray realized that he was very wrong to think that Gavin was an idiot. Well, he may have been something of an idiot for his name, but he was a very smart idiot it seemed. There was a gun on him now. He hadn’t been watching Mogar at all when he was talking to Gavin. It would have been easy to slide a gun out and have it ready under the table. They’d played him. It was almost the exact thing Ray did. Making someone think there’s no threat and then taking them out before they know what’s happened. It was smart.

Leaning back in his chair and grabbing another one of his tacos, Ray started unwrapping it slowly, knowing with his hands out in the open he wasn’t likely to get shot. They still needed him after all. “So you know my name. That’s not too much to work with. I doubt people would really be able to come and get me with just that.”

“It’s quite a bit more than that, actually,” Gavin explained, reaching to the side of him. The man pulled a laptop out of the bag and opened it. There was silence as Gavin typed into the laptop quietly before the other turned the laptop around and showed it to Ray.

The sickened feeling in Ray’s stomach came back full force as he looked at the screen. There were images of him just sitting and doing normal things, playing video games, getting food, walking down the road. The images weren’t what scared Ray though, it was the fact that someone had obviously been tailing him for a while without him even noticing. Someone was coming after him. “If you’re here to threaten me into doing something, you’ve got a real roundabout way of doing it,” Ray snapped sarcastically. He was pissed that he’d let himself get played so easily by these people.

A grin made its way onto Gavin’s face once more. “Not really a threat, but a way to gain your trust. You probably haven’t heard of me, I’m not as well-known as you, but I’m as good at what I do as you are. Before setting up this meeting I made sure to do some research on you. I found out what enemies you had and then got into their data to see what they knew. It didn’t really work out until I found this one. These guys are really pissed at you it seems. I forget their name, it was something idiotic, but they’ve got all this data on you. I’m pretty sure they’re planning a hit on you soon, but I could do one of two things. Option one is to put all this information on you out for the whole world to see and either let the cops or your enemies work it out. But option two is that I erase this all. Erase it and make it so that your enemies can’t use it to find you. A good deal for two lousy shots, yeah? I do this and you promise to work for us and then afterwards you walk away with a fourth of the cut.”

Ray knew almost instantly who owned all of this information and well if the rumors of what this guy did to his enemies were to be believed, Ray really didn’t want to be found by the guy. “I don’t have much of a choice with your friend holding a gun on me.”

“Oh Mogar’s not going to shoot you unless you pull a gun on us. I don’t really want to get blood all over myself so I think if you don’t agree we’ll just let your lovely friends sort you out, love. I really hope you make the right decision though. You seem like a nice enough guy and finding someone else to take those shots would be a bloody headache wouldn’t it? Here’s an address. Tomorrow at 3, meet us there if you don’t want everyone who’s ever wanted you dead to know all about your life. Oh and don’t think of trying anything while we leave. Mogar’s not as precise as you are, but he’ll make sure you’re dead,” Gavin said as he put away his laptop and stood up. He set a piece of paper down on the table in front of Ray before both he and Mogar left.

Staring at the paper in front of him, Ray didn’t move until he heard them leave. He didn’t want to risk getting shot. Looking back at his food, Ray frowned. It was such a waste, but he felt too sick to eat anything after getting played like that.

\------------------------------

“Fuck Gav you’re fucking scary as shit when you want to be!” Michael exclaimed, driving them both back to where they’d been staying after the failed attack. It was weird seeing Gavin get all serious like that and the idea of someone being able to put all his personal information out there for anyone to find was terrifying.

Gavin laughed and stuck his hand out the window of the speeding car. “I always get a bloody thrill doing that stuff. Did you see the look on his face though? He was so shocked. Serves ‘im right being cocky. I like going by Gavino even if it’s just one letter off my name. He thought he was going to get out of there with insulting us and refusing to help. Well, he’s the idiot right?”

“I guess. If I hadn’t had my gun ready to go though you would’ve gotten shot. You haven’t seen it before, but he draws quick as fuck and I’ve heard he’s never missed a target. He could’ve blown your dick off before I’d pulled out my gun if I hadn’t already had it on him,” Michael said seriously.

“That’s the danger of threatening someone like that. Hey how much longer till we get back to Burnies?”

“Like ten minutes or some shit why?”

“Want to stop and get some food? I’m sure Geoff is fucking starving and Jack’ll be yelling at us if we don’t eat something soon.” Gavin pointed off to the side. “There’s a great fast pizza place that way. It’ll only take a minute.”

Michael was already changing lanes so they could go buy some fucking pizza.

They ended up with way too much pizza, but after Gavin had pointed out that it was only polite to buy some for Burnie and Caleb, Michael wasn’t complaining. Besides whatever pizza didn’t get eaten would just be breakfast for him later. Though with the way Gavin was balancing all the pizzas as they went inside, Michael was worried it’d all end up on the floor before anyone got to taste it. Turning a corner, Michael followed Gavin into a back room with machines beeping softly and a disgruntled medic standing next to Geoff’s bed.

“Caleb, Caleb, Caleb, I’m fine alright? I just need to get up and start working on some stuff and then I’ll lay right back down. Easy peasy right? Good. And I know you’re worried like “you don’t have enough blood to be drinking,” but man get off my glorious dick for two seconds to see that this beer is fucking delicious,” Geoff said with a beer in hand.

Jack reached over and snatched the beer out of Geoff hand, a stern frown on her face. “I go away for two fucking minutes and this is what I come back to. Geoff, you got shot and lost a fuck ton of blood you don’t need to be drinking and you certainly don’t need to be making Caleb deal with your shit after he saved your life.”

“Come on Jack... Caleb loves me, right Caleb?”

Caleb looked like he wanted nothing more than to leave and not come back to that room ever again.

“We brought back pizza for everyone!” Gavin called out in a singsong voice as he dropped the stack of pizza on the side table. “We got enough for all of us including some of Burnie’s group. Figured it’d be a nice little thanks after they put us up like this.”

A large grin was shot Gavin’s way as Geoff made hands at him. Geoff himself didn’t even know if he was grabbing at Gavin or at the pizza, all he knew was he felt great after his near-death experience. Though, he was sure that it had something to do with the mixture of pain medication and alcohol in his system. Geoff couldn’t bring himself to care about it though. He was just happy to be alive and with people he cared about. It’d been touch and go, Geoff knew. He’d had some crazy visions and his memories were all fucked up after what happened, but he was alive and everyone else was okay. That’s all that mattered in his book. Hell, the only other person to get hurt was Jack and she’d only gotten grazed by a bullet. It was fucking amazing. Well, almost amazing.

There was no doubt in their minds after a lengthy discussion that Marcus’s gang had known they were coming. The extra people coming around after they were all inside and the person going around to take out Gavin. It was all too convenient to not have been a trap. Besides, Michael and Jack had done a full sweep of the car they were in and found there was a bug in it. They’d been had. It was a wonder all of them didn’t die because of it.

While Geoff was happy to be alive and happy everyone else was alive, he couldn’t deny the anxiety he felt over Marcus still being out there. Griffon knew now though so that was a good thing. Geoff wasn’t happy about that either, but he couldn’t blame Jack for telling his wife. From what Caleb said it’d been touch and go as to whether he’d live for a little bit. Plus, if not for Jack calling Griffon they wouldn’t have found out what Geoff’s blood type was in time for a transfer. Burnie was still giving Geoff shit about giving up his blood. Geoff knew Burnie was just joking though. Despite their issues, Geoff knew Burnie would have his back no matter what. It was reassuring too, that Geoff was there. While being bed ridden, Geoff had been able to smooth over more of the bad blood between him and Burnie. It seemed like this was a good enough time for moving on from the past and healing relationships. Shit, Geoff figured if getting shot was all it had taken for him and Gavin to be friends again, Geoff would have shot his stomach himself a while ago.

“Gav come here, give your old man a hug,” Geoff said with a grin as the British man approached. Geoff grabbed him quickly and ruffled his hair, causing it to stick out in every which direction. Laughing at the loud squawking that came from the other, Geoff let go and grabbed the pizza box. He opened it and made a face. “Anchovies? Who the fuck likes anchovies?”

“I happen to like anchovies and I’m sure with all my blood in you, you do too. That’s how it works right? Soon you’ll be my mindless robot under the control of my blood,” Burnie said, having come into the room from all the noise.

Geoff rolled his eyes at the other before holding out the pizza box. “What are you doing here Burnie?”

“Caleb said you’d be fine to leave today so I was coming to see if you’d reconsidered my offer.”

The look on everyone’s faces turned serious. Michael seemed to be holding back a yell as Geoff quickly cut in before anyone else could, “Burnie. You know I appreciate you offering to help, but we don’t need it. We’ll handle things on our own. I owe you enough for paying Caleb to help me as it is. I don’t need to owe you my wife’s life too. Besides I sent my best guys to get us the best sniper in the world.”

A nod was given to Geoff before Burnie said, “Then I’ll be taking this pizza. I expect you guys to be out of my hair before the sun goes down.”

Geoff watched Burnie as he left. If it had been money or guns that Burnie had wanted, Geoff probably would have agreed to the terms, but Burnie had promised to get rid of Marcus and his crew on the condition that Geoff and Jack go back to work for him again. Geoff couldn’t do that. Maybe they had been able to forgive enough bad blood to have an alright relationship, but Geoff knew it was time for him to branch out away from Burnie. Besides, before Burnie had made that offer, Michael and Gavin had made Geoff an offer he couldn’t refuse.

_“Oi Geoff!” Gavin shouted loudly._

_At Geoff wincing from the noise, Jack was quick to scold the other, “Geoff only woke up an hour ago, leave him alone Gavin.”_

_“Jack this is important,” Michael added quickly. He knew Jack wouldn’t hesitate to bite their heads off if they bothered Geoff too much. It was easy to tell Jack was protective of the older man._

_“What is it?” Geoff slurred out, mind still blurry from the drugs he was on._

_“Michael and I talked about it for a bit while you were out Geoff. I know this didn’t go well, but we uh… we thought we could make a crew,” Gavin explained, suddenly seeming nervous presenting the idea._

_Geoff and Jack exchanged a surprised look before Geoff turned to address Michael. “You’re in on this? I thought you were just here for the money.”_

_“Yeah I fucking was, but shit I work with Gavin all the time anyway and we all worked pretty fucking well together. If that hadn’t been an ambush, we would have pulled it off easily. Besides you have good taste in booze,” Michael said with a smirk._

_“What would we even call ourselves?” Jack asked. The idea wasn’t horrible. She and Geoff worked together all the time too and Michael and Gavin were nice enough to be around._

_“Michael actually thought of it!”_

_“Yeah I was thinking the Fake Achievement Hunter Crew or the Fake AH Crew. Cause we’re fucking hunting people down and well we’re not actually achieving anything real so I figured the fake part made sense. I don’t fucking know. We can do some other shit if you guys don’t like it.”_

_Geoff shook his head quickly. “No man… It’s perfect.”_

Geoff remembered the moment fondly. He was pretty sure it would stick with him for a while even though it had only just happened the day before. Looking at them, Geoff said, “Speaking of your recruitment job, how did it go?”

“The guy didn’t want to join us at first. He wanted the money up front, but since we can’t do that, Gavin made his threats. We left before getting a confirmation, but from the look on the guy’s face, I’m pretty sure we can expect him to co-operate. Or he’ll come in guns blazing and kill us. Though Gavin did come up with the fucking awesome idea of setting it up so the information on BrownMan would go live in case anything happens to us. That way at least we’ll take him out with us if he does anything,” Michael explained with a shrug.

“Good enough for me, now give me some of that pizza, I’m fucking starving. Apparently nearly dying makes you hungry as dicks.”

At the laughter that followed his words, Geoff smiled at them, happy to be able to call the people around him his crew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late! I know I was supposed to have a chapter last week, but some stuff came up and I was unable to post it when it was due. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Next chapter I get to bring in my favorite character so I'm pretty excited for it! I shouldn't miss another chapter as I've been working on this and have a couple chapters already written. 
> 
> If you'd like to see little fahc headcanons and other fahc/rooster teeth stuff from me then follow me on tumblr at fahc-dusttostars. I write little drabbles in relation to this fic on occasion over there and just other fahc drabbles I decide to hold off on posting on Ao3 if you're interested. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


	7. Vagabond

Vagabond. The Black Skull. Grim Reaper. The Torturer. The Wanderer. Death For Hire. Or to those he deemed worth, aka no one, James Ryan Haywood. Known to Los Santos and many other places by so many names he seemed to become even more of a mystery the more people spoke about him. All that was really known about him was that when he took on a job it gone done no matter what and it often ended with a trail of bodies left behind him. It was rumored he didn’t have a face and that the skull mask he was known for wearing was actually stitched to his skin. People said he was crazy and that he’d been killing since he was a child. The rumor was that if someone needed something done and had the money, they would call the Vagabond. It was said that the only God he worshiped was the dollar and the death he himself caused. People would hire him to go to deals and just stand there. People were so scared of him that just the threat of his presence was enough to make good men quiver.

That’s why Ryan found himself annoyed that he was being hired for a job as simple as the one he was on. It also didn’t help that the man who had hired him had acted like a pompous ass who needed to have the biggest dick in the room. It always annoyed Ryan to deal with cocky people, but this man was offering him double his normal price to take this job. Ryan was of the opinion that he deserved triple, but he’d negotiate that once the job was done. After all, if he didn’t do a good job then what was his reputation worth?

Ryan didn’t understand though, why he was being paid so much to watch after this group. From what he’d gathered there were four of them, though they had contacts with Rooster Teeth. It seemed more of an alliance than actually belonging to them. Ryan was pretty sure the four were just working together if the fact that they always left together was any indication. Well, only three at most would leave together at a time. The fourth one was injured it seemed. It was hard to pinpoint any kind of leadership so Ryan felt like they weren’t actually a crew. Just individuals helping each other out. It was weird to see what kind of threat they posed to someone with as large a crew as Marcus, but Ryan wasn’t going to complain about an easy job. They weren’t even trying to make sure they weren’t being followed. It was moronic. It would have been easy to just go in and kill all of them without blinking, but Marcus’s request had been very clear. He wanted to know why the four had attacked.

That was what Ryan hadn’t been able to figure out just yet and that had been driving him up a wall. He was antsy to get into the fray. He wanted to get the job done fast and demand that Marcus pay extra and then leave before he wasn’t able to resist the urge to shove his knife in the asshole’s dickhole. It wasn’t professional to kill one’s clients after all. Ryan knew that. People may have thought he was insane, but he really wasn’t. He knew what he was doing. He just didn’t give a fuck about morals. Morality had never gotten him anywhere good.

It’d been interesting watching and following them. They really only went out for food except for one time. Their meeting with the Latino was interesting, but Ryan hadn’t been able to get close enough to hear it. He was worried about getting spotted because he was wearing his mask as he did. That was one downside to wearing it all the time. It wasn’t very sneaky. It’d taken a while for Ryan to recognize and place the Latino, but once Ryan did he became much more interested in the job. After all if they had the funds to hire BrownMan then they were a lot stronger than Ryan had given them credit. Ryan always loved it when his opponents turned out to be worthy of fighting. It was boring if there was no excitement in the kill.

The rest of the day hadn’t turned up anything interesting. Ryan stayed camped out on top of the building across from where the four seemed to be. He slept at night and used a motion sensor to wake himself up whenever someone entered or left the building. That way he’d be able to tail them still. He hadn’t had a chance to set up any equipment to get pictures of them, but from his descriptions of the four, Ryan’s informant Dollface had been able to give him information on one of the three he’d seen leaving. Mogar, an explosives expert and gunman, was the curly haired man apparently. It made sense that they’d gotten in contact with BrownMan then. Ryan remembered hearing about a big hit a year back that had involved the two and a different crew. It was always interesting to see well known killers working together. It would do Ryan’s reputation well to take them out too.

Even them leaving that hideout and moving back to a shitty apartment hadn’t proved interesting. It had given Ryan eyes on the fourth person, but that was it. Ryan made a note to ask Dollface what she knew about the other man, but otherwise he just followed them to this apartment building they went to and set up to be able to watch them again. Ryan assumed they were moving out of the Rooster Teeth hideout and moving back to their own. That was good. Ryan didn’t want to have to take on a gang that had nothing to do with his job if he didn’t have to.

Ryan knew that he could get in and bug the apartment once all of them left, but frustratingly none of them seemed to be leaving. Once they got back to that apartment they didn’t leave almost at all. The woman left once and returned with what looked like groceries, but other than that they hadn’t left since they got there. Ryan was getting a little too antsy at that point. He hadn’t gotten any information on the new person either. Dollface had been able to tell him that the fourth person sounded like someone who had run with Rooster Teeth for a while, but that she didn’t know much about him. Geoffrey Ramsey was the name given to him. If that was right then that meant that the man was a relation to Griffon Ramsey, the one that Marcus had sent a hit on. It would give a reason for his attack, but that wasn’t good enough for Ryan. If that was correct though, it made Ryan even more interested. Not many would go into a situation like that for anyone. Ryan knew what it was like to love someone that much. It almost pulled on his heart strings to know the reason for the attack on Marcus. Almost. Ryan had stifled that part of himself a long time ago though.

Once BrownMan showed up and walked into the apartment, Ryan knew he needed to act. If he left it alone for too long, then they would form a plan and launch another attack or get away. Ryan would fail his mission and if Ryan failed his mission there would be hell to pay. Well, that was what Marcus had said. It had offended Ryan to know the man was ignoring his hard-earned reputation to threaten him about what would happen if he didn’t finish the job. That had been the first straw against the man. Maybe after completing the job, Ryan would kill him. Send out a message to people that they couldn’t just talk to him however they pleased.

Watching the building, Ryan waited to see if BrownMan walked back out. Ryan would report what he knew to Marcus and then get the go-ahead to go in and kill all of them. Ryan would complete the mission and end up much, much richer for the trouble. Plus, eliminating BrownMan would actually be pretty nice for Ryan. It would open the market of assassinations to Ryan a lot more than it already was. That was exciting. Ryan did enjoy assassination missions. Though his favorite missions were torturing assholes. Nothing like putting someone in their place.

A few hours actually passed before Ryan saw any movement in front of the apartment again. BrownMan, Mogar, and the kid with gaudy sunglasses were all standing out in front of the door. Their laughter was so loud that Ryan could hear it from his perch in the quiet. It was weird to watch them just joking around the way they were. Ryan could have sworn he’d seen tension in the way BrownMan had entered the apartment. Apparently, whatever it was wasn’t an issue anymore though. That didn’t bode well for Ryan. It would be easier to bring them down if they were at odds with each other. Being buddy-buddy with each other meant they would work better together. Acting soon was the right decision.

Ryan got down from his perch and hopped on his motorcycle, speeding away to where Marcus and his goons were holed up. As Ryan got to the door, he knocked on it in the pattern he’d been given. It would keep him from getting shot the second he walked through. The door swung open and Ryan entered, being greeted with a nod from the two bodyguards standing on either side of the door.

“Ah Vagabond, I hope you’re here to give me good news,” Marcus said with a wide smile. He seemed pretty confident for someone who’d almost gotten killed recently. Ryan was certain the man wouldn’t know how to have a reasonable sense of danger if death bit him on the nose.

“I don’t know anything for certain, but the idea now is that the man who started the hit on you is Geoffrey Ramsey. Ex Rooster Teeth member. He’s pretty dangerous from what the rumors say. It seems as though he assembled a group for the purpose of killing you. I don’t know for sure if it’s actually him. My informant just said it sounds like it. Not much is known about the man. If it is him then the reason he attacked you would be that hit you put on Griffon Ramsey. They’re not married by any legal documentation, but from what I’ve been told they might as well be. Apparently they use to be quite the dangerous duo before they started working separately. That is, if he is Geoffrey,” Ryan explained calmly. He took note of all the people in the room, making sure he knew where he could escape to if he needed to. They were watching him, but all weapons were holstered. Ryan would easily be able to pull his gun and shoot quite a few of them before they took him out. It was yet another way Marcus was an idiot.

Marcus stood up and glared at Ryan. “Might be? I didn’t hire you for possibilities. I’m paying a fucking arm and leg for you to find exactly why. What if this is Rooster Teeth starting a war? Did you think of that or is that ridiculous mask of yours too thick?”

Ryan tensed up immediately, the desire to shoot Marcus surging through him. “I came here to tell you I’m going to make contact. I’ll torture the information out of him and then kill him once I’m done. It’ll be easy and over before you know it,” Ryan said, keeping his anger in check. It wouldn’t do him any good to get killed because of this idiot.

“Fine. Do it and fast. And once you get it done we’ll be discussing your pay,” Marcus snapped, sitting back down.

Ryan’s lip curled in contempt under his mask. This asshole was going to skip out on his payment for such a shitty job? Professionalism could be fucked if he thought Ryan would just roll over and take that. The thought of teaming up with the group he was supposed to be taking out flickered through Ryan’s mind as he was leaving, causing him to pause suddenly. “Remind me again why you put a hit on the woman.”

“The bitch cheated me out of a good deal. No one cheats me and gets away with it. You’d do well to remember that, Vagabond.”

There was no response from Ryan as he left, making his decision then and there. If this man wanted to be a hypocrite and abandon his honor, Ryan would follow suit. After all, when in Rome…

\---------------------

Two days later found Ray at Geoff’s place a second time. Ray had been nervous the first time going in, after all these guys had threatened him in a way that was a lot more dangerous than anyone else had. Ray was tempted to go in guns blazing, but an hour before the time he was supposed to meet them, Ray had gotten a text message explaining that if anything happened to them the information would go live if they didn’t stop it. Once Ray had gotten there, he was introduced to two new people and expected to be threatened again or given more details about what his role was and how much he needed to do to be in the clear. Instead, Ray found himself being invited to dinner and after a brief explanation of why they needed his help, Ray found himself watching Gavin delete all the files that his enemy had on him. Ray saw each and every one of them get erased. It was fucking insane. Ray had questioned why they did that since now he could kill them without a worry. He was met with a response that he seemed like a man of his word. That he wouldn’t go back on his promise to help them. It was true. Who knew the GoldenBoy was so good at reading people. Well, apparently Geoff had faith. It was interesting and why Ray was so willing to come back and hang out even though it didn’t have much to do with the job.

Knocking on the door, Ray grinned at Gavin when he opened it. “How’s it going Vav? Ready to get your ass handed to you in Halo?”

A loud laugh was the answer as Ray found himself rushed into the apartment. “Come on XRay. I know you’re a good shot with real guns, but if you’re good in video games too that’d just be bloody unfair!”

Ray smirked lightly. Gavin was about to regret those words and he didn’t even know it. Ray was about to let him know when he caught a nice scent in the air. “What is that?”

It was Michael who responded. “Me and Jack are prepping some food for dinner tonight. And don’t worry about asking to stay, Jack already fucking got enough for you. I swear to fuck we’re all going to be fucking balloons with how much she makes us eat all the time. Not that I’m complaining. Cooking with actual supplies is fucking nice.”

“You better not be complaining or I’ll tie you down and force feed you all the food in this kitchen,” Jack snapped back though there was a smile on her face as she said it.

Laughing a bit, Ray just walked in and sat on the couch next to Gavin. “Alright Vav you ready to get your fucking ass handed to you?”

A controller was handed to him and Ray was ready to go when there was a sudden bang. His gun was out and pointed in the direction of the noise before Ray was even able to register what was going on. There was a man in the doorway, said door busted in. Ray was ready to demand answers from the man when he felt his throat seize up. A black skull mask and leather from head to toe. It was the Vagabond. If the Vagabond was there then something was very, very wrong.

“What’s up with all the fucking noise I was trying to sleep!” Geoff shouted, appearing in the doorway of his bedroom. He too fell silent at the sight of the Vagabond, seeming to not know what to do or say as he stared down the dark eyes that lingered behind the mask.

“Geoffrey Lazer Ramsey right? I can’t believe Marcus considers you a threat with how easily I was able to track you down and break in. I guess it’s a good thing I want him dead too,” Ryan deadpanned calmly. Out of the corner of his eye he was able to see BrownMan holding a gun up at him and looking to the other side, Ryan could see Mogar holding a gun up as well. It was risky to come in like this, but Ryan figured his reputation would help keep them from just blindly shooting him without even hearing out what he had to say.

“Why are you here Vagabond?” Geoff asked, voice remaining surprisingly steady.

“I’m here because you made a powerful enemy who wants to know why four idiots bugged his cars and attacked him. And well also wants you dead after finding out your motives. You pissed him off enough he was willing to pay twice my normal fee, but luckily for you all he managed to piss me off too. I’m here to offer my help and services. If only to rid the world of that scum. Shoot me if you want to, but know that if you do Marcus will come for you all and you won’t stand a chance. I’ve been following you for four days without you even realizing it and I wasn’t under orders to kill you. Imagine what someone would be able to do to you if they weren’t trying to get information and were just trying to get rid of you? It’d be easy enough. I could have thrown a grenade in instead of stepping in. Would have blown all of you to smithereens,” Ryan explained, keeping his eyes trained on Geoff. If the way the others seemed to glance at him was any indication, it seemed like Geoff was the one holding the cards here.

Geoff glanced at the others in the room for a moment before barking, “Put your guns down. If he wanted us dead, we’d be dead.”

Ryan smiled behind his mask. Good. Geoff knew enough about him to know that he was true to his word and as dangerous as the rumors said he was. That would make things a lot easier for him, after all.

“Why would you want to help us?” Geoff asked carefully.

It was the question of the hour. If Ryan was really honest with himself, he wasn’t quite sure why he wanted to help. Maybe it was because Marcus was trying to cheat him out of money for no reason. That shouldn’t have bothered him much though. Ryan had dealt with that kind of attitude before. More likely it was because this group was interesting and after so long of nothing but death, Ryan was ready for something a little different.

“I can feed him false information to throw him off, but you’re going to need more people if you’re hoping to kill him. He’s a lot stronger than you think,” Ryan said, not answering the question posed to him.

It was easy to see that none of them trusted him and that idea was made even easier when Michael stepped forward, still pointing his gun at Ryan. “We don’t have shit to pay you with and how the fuck do we know this isn’t a trick?”

A shrug was all Ryan gave in response. “You don’t, but if you want Marcus dead then you’ll listen to me. I’ve been watching you for the past four days and from what I’ve gathered it’s just you four plus however you convinced BrownMan to join you. Marcus might be an idiot in most regards, but after your little stunt got a little too close for comfort he’s doubled his guard. Though, you can rest assured that Griffon’s safe for now. After all, he hired me to take care of her too.”

At the mention of Griffon, Geoff surged forward, obviously reaching for a gun, but faltered, hand going to his side. Ryan could easily tell that his wound hadn’t healed all the way yet. Ryan watched quietly as the British man scrambled over to Geoff to fret over him for a minute. “Why would I be here telling you I was hired to kill her if I was planning on doing it? Good? Alright then. By now you should at least be a little convinced I’m not here to pull any tricks. Marcus is trying to cheat me and if he thinks I’ll let him live because of it then he’s going to be a very sad, very dead man. Helping you is the easiest way to take care of him without expending too many resources. I know the layout of his hideout. I know how to get in. And I know what defenses he has and when they’re the weakest. I’m offering all this information to you merely for the prize of letting this city know that trying to cheat me out of money is nothing short of a death wish. I’ll even help pull the trigger on him.”

Geoff seemed to relax a little at that. “I guess we need to start planning then.”

“Good. I’ll be back here with someone else in a week to set up a plan. That should give you enough time to get supplies for an attack,” Ryan responded.

“You come back a week from today and we’ll make a plan and execute it the next day. And for the love of fuck knock next time. Doors are fucking expensive asshole,” Geoff said, trying to regain some semblance of power over the situation.

With that Ryan left.

As soon as he left it was like everyone in the room had let out a breath they’d been holding in. Michael finally put his gun down and the tension of his shoulders left. He was the first to move and to speak. “I can fix the door, Geoff. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be better than nothing,” Michael said as he walked to the busted open door and looked at it. A little bit of wood work and sanding would get it fixed up. Michael would have to add a deadbolt to make sure no one could open it, but that wouldn’t be too hard for him.

“Geoff, go lay down. You haven’t healed enough to be up this much,” Gavin butt in, holding onto Geoff’s arm. He pulled the older male towards his room gently. Gavin had appointed himself to Geoff’s personal care taker after the wound. He’d forgiven Geoff after he took a bullet for him. It was pretty easy to forgive someone after they saved one’s life.

After Gavin and Geoff left to the back room, Ray found himself letting out a loud whistle. “You guys have some scary fucking enemies. Shit the Vagabond? Really? A little surprised he didn’t fucking shoot me on the spot.”

“Why would he shoot you?” Michael asked.

“I’m an assassin, he’s an assassin. I’m one of his fucking biggest competitors. Shit if Gavin had put that info on me out, Vagabond would have been the first to come after me I’d bet,” Ray explained.

“Do you know much about him? We’ll need to know everything we can if we’re going to survive a deal with him,” Jack said, finally adding to the conversation. She was already thinking about what they needed to do to keep this from blowing up in their face. It was frightening to know that they’d been followed for so long without knowing it.

“No one leaves here without another person. Ray I can’t enforce that with you since you’re not part of this crew, but you can stay here if you want. We’ve really only got the floor to offer you, but it might be safer than leaving. Michael, you and Gavin need to work on finding out as much about him as you can. Maybe try to find where he hangs out and try to get more of a read on him. Gavin’s good at getting people to like him. It might help,” Jack continued before turning back to the food she had been working on.

 “I don’t know much. I’ve only met him once and it wasn’t a particularly good meeting. I can help come talk to him with Gavin. I already know him and Gavin will need someone who’s quick on the draw. If Gavin crosses him, Vagabond will kill him without a second thought,” Ray explained. He shivered at the thought of pissing off the Vagabond… again. Ray knew firsthand how scary the Vagabond was when he wanted to be. “I do know a few places that he is seen around from time to time so we can try to find him there.”

Soon after, Gavin stepped out of Geoff’s room and looked at all of them. “Geoff’s laying down. He’s really upset though and I’m worried his wound will reopen. Caleb did warn him that if he got too stressed about things then his wound might bleed more,” Gavin said, looking at Jack. After the past few days a power dynamic had been easily set and accepted. Geoff was the leader of their little crew and Jack was second in command. Gavin would be a face and help make deals while Michael would be the muscle. Gavin secretly hoped to get Ray in on their crew after this job and get them a sniper. They got along with the man well enough and he didn’t have a crew of his own. Plus, Gavin felt like they could trust him after they’d smoothed over their first meeting. Gavin was proud of that little trick. He’d been the one to come up with how to get Ray on their side and after it had worked, Gavin was even happier with his role as the face.

Jack nodded at Gavin and responded, “I was just talking about what to do, don’t worry. Ray knows some places that Vagabond will likely be so we can find him and talk to him. I figured you could talk to him, see if we can get a better read on him. Ray offered to come with you since he’s dealt with Vagabond before and Michael can come too and watch your backs.”

“I’m staying here,” Michael cut in quickly. “If anyone comes back you’ll need me. I know you’re good at fighting too, but not while having to deal with Geoff’s dead weight. Besides Gavin and Ray will be safer than us if they’re moving around in a car. We’re sitting ducks right now here. Vagabond could have been trying to trick us by getting us to split up and leaving some of us vulnerable. Geoff needs two people on him at all times in case there’s an attack. I don’t give a fuck if you disagree.”

Anger flashed through Jack’s eyes before she steadied herself quickly. Arguing wouldn’t help any of them.

\-----------

It took some time, but about three days later, Ray was finally able to track down the Vagabond. It was hard, but not as hard as the first time Ray had done it. Though, Ray was really hoping he wouldn’t get shot this time. That hadn’t been all that pleasant. Sitting around and playing games on his DS afterwards had been fun, but getting shot wasn’t something Ray wanted to repeat. Not that Ray had informed the others about his past with the Vagabond, or that he knew his name. Ray couldn’t even imagine how that conversation would go. “Oh yeah I know the Vagabond, his name is James Ryan Haywood. I tracked him down because I was hired to kill him and he shot me, but for some reason decided to not kill me. It was weird and I still think about why he didn’t kill me to this day. Oh and sometimes I get off to the idea of him fucking me while strangling me because I’m a sick fucking bastard.”

No that wasn’t really a conversation Ray wanted to have with anyone. Besides, Ray was trying to not get drawn into the family vibe they had going on. Sure the idea of being with a crew was nice, but Ray had been alone for so long he was used to it. Crews meant relying on people and relying on people normally got people killed so Ray was pretty happy keeping his distance. Though, even he couldn’t deny how much fun it was to just sit back and shoot shit all day. It helped that Jack was a fucking amazing cook when she put her mind to it. Maybe he wouldn’t mind joining them. They were only just starting out so Ray would have a say in the way the crew got shaped. That would be nice. There wasn’t much of a point in thinking too long about it though. Ray was a go with the flow kind of guy. What happened happened and Ray wasn’t going to complain either way. He wasn’t a little bitch after all.

Getting off his bike, Ray looked at Gavin and saw him straightening out his hair. It’d gotten ruffled on the ride over, but Gavin wasn’t complaining. He had the same serious look that Ray had noticed when the British man had threatened him. It was obscured though, when the other put his gaudy sunglasses on. Last time Ray had tracked Vagabond down he’d found the other at the bar they were standing outside of. Ray had assumed after he tracked the Vagabond down there he would have started going somewhere else, but apparently not. It was a little nerve wracking to be standing out there given the pang of pain in his shoulder where the Vagabond had shot him, but hopefully it would make it a little easier to talk to Vagabond given that Ray was ready to attack if anything happened. Ray was a big enough person to admit that he was almost hoping Vagabond would try to do something so he could shoot the man.

“So how did you find Vagabond here?” Gavin asked.

Ray gave an easy smirk before saying, “Well I have a few contacts myself. After all when I’m hired to assassinate someone half the time I have to do the tracking down myself.” Ray hoped that no one realized he’d already done this before. It was kind of embarrassing how easily the Vagabond had gotten the drop on him.

It was reassuring that Gavin just gave a shrug. Ray didn’t think the other would dig into it, but Ray also knew the other was a little unpredictable.

Following the Brit into the bar, Ray looked around. It was just as seedy as he remembered it being the last time he was there. It’d been quite a while after all and after getting shot by the Vagabond, Ray hadn’t wanted to risk angering the man again. Looking around, Ray didn’t spot Vagabond immediately, but that was okay. There hadn’t been a guarantee as to when Vagabond would be there, just that he went to that bar fairly often. Ray was happy with that. Maybe he could find someone around who sold weed still and relax a little bit.

“Hey XRay since he’s not here yet let’s get bev’d up!” Gavin said cheerfully.

Shaking his head, Ray smirked at the other and responded, “Is your plan to win him over to get drunk?”

“No, but it’ll take an edge off. He’s a scary bloke. Wish you and Michael could’ve done this instead of me, but Michael’s not good for talking. He gets too angry most of the time. Though it’s top when he drinks a lot and gets in fights with people!”

“Don’t count on me getting drunk and fighting people. Not up close at least. If you want me to drink and snipe someone I’m game.”

“I bet you couldn’t snipe someone drunk.”

“I’ve done it high, drunk shouldn’t be too hard. Though, I don’t really drink much,” Ray explained with a shrug. He walked over to the bar even though he didn’t plan on drinking. It would be easier to watch the room if they sat in one spot for a while.

“That’s no fun. When we get back to Geoff’s you’re getting drunk and sniping something. It’ll be top. I bet you could still out shoot Geoff while trashed. He’d get so pissy too,” Gavin exclaimed before sitting down at the bar and ordering a drink for himself. Ray didn’t miss the way the Brit winked at the bartender when the drink came, but Ray wasn’t going to say anything.

A shrug was all Ray gave Gavin in response. He didn’t really want to drink. It had just never appealed to him and the few times Ray had allowed himself to drink he tended to get himself into trouble either by things like that one time he should have gotten killed because someone bet him he couldn’t shoot an apple off their friend’s head and Ray had accidentally blown that friend’s head off or things like ending up in bed with someone he didn’t even know and having to sneak out afterwards. Sure, Ray didn’t mind blowing off steam with sex, but he liked to be more aware of who he was choosing to sleep with than his drunk self was. Though, Ray didn’t see much wrong with drinking around the Fakes as Gavin had started calling them. Ray doubted he’d end up in bed with any of them since Geoff was married, Ray wasn’t attracted to Jack, Gavin wasn’t really his type, and Michael didn’t seem to swing Ray’s way. Ray also doubted any of them would try to get him to shoot something off their head.

“Maybe at Geoff’s I’ll do it, but you’ll owe me.”

“If you get drunk and snipe something we can go to the ritzy part of town and I’ll nick something fancy off some bloke or lady for you.”

“You’d have to do it high,” Ray responded. If he was going to do something while drinking, he’d make Gavin try it while high.

Gavin laughed and put his hand out to Ray. “You’ve got a deal there.”

Ray smirked and shook Gavin’s hand again. The idea of joining them flickered across Ray’s mind again at that moment. It wouldn’t be too bad to join them. They were friendly and fun to be around and seemed a lot different from most gangs Ray had interacted in. All four of them seemed more interested in just fucking around and doing shit for laughs than getting rich or to fuck other people over. Ray knew that Geoff wanted him to join. Something about wanting a sniper in their crew. It made sense to Ray. If there was going to be a new crew Geoff would want it to be well rounded before they started officially taking on heists and shit. Though, Ray was going to stick by his earlier opinion of, until they had a hideout that didn’t have a broken door, Ray wasn’t interested. Any idiot must have known that they needed something more secure than that. At least, Ray hoped Geoff wasn’t that much of an idiot.

Waiting around didn’t seem to be Gavin’s strong suit. At least that was what Ray had gathered from the hour he and Gavin had been waiting around for the Vagabond to show up. Ray had already pulled Gavin away from starting two bar fights, not even with Gavin being a participate just getting random strangers to fight other random strangers. It was getting more and more obvious to Ray that Gavin’s only interest in life was causing as much chaos as he possibly could.

Ray thought of himself as a pretty calm and chill dude, but if he had to pull a drunken Gavin away from putting whatever he’d stolen into someone else’s pocket to start a fight one more time, Ray was going to explode the way Michael did at video games.

“Gavin! I’m going to go play pool. If you can sit here without starting anymore fights once we’re done we’ll go to the fucking gas station buy a shit ton of beer and I’ll drink all of them and snipe the cans from the roof,” Ray snapped quickly, staring at Gavin.

The way Gavin’s face lit up at the idea made Ray wish he’d demanded that Michael come too. Ray didn’t even know why Geoff needed the curly haired man to stay back.

“That sounds top!”

“Alright, but no fights, no more stealing. You sit here and wait for the Vagabond and get me when you see him. I’ll be right over there. Alright?” Ray asked. He wanted to make sure he had Gavin’s word so if Gavin didn’t do it, Ray would be justified playing “sit on the roof and make the Brit dance around getting his feet shot” next time Ray saw him.

At the swift nod from Gavin, Ray pushed off his set and stalked over to the pool tables. Ray easily asserted himself into a game and start playing with someone and well, when someone offered to bet a few joints against some money, Ray wasn’t complaining.

Another hour passed, but Ray wasn’t paying much attention to it. After flawlessly winning the game he’d bet on, Ray had taken the joints to the bathroom and lit up. Only one so he wouldn’t be too off for meeting the Vagabond, but enough to take the edge off a little bit. Weed typically had a way of making him calmer, but mildly amused by anything and everything.

Walking out of the bathroom, Ray glanced around to see if Gavin had stayed out of trouble when he heard the loud squawks that seemed to mean Gavin was getting himself in trouble. Lazily swinging his head towards the bar, Ray figured the Brit had just slipped or something, but seeing the dark skull mask on the person next to Gavin, Ray felt his stomach drop. Walking swiftly over, Ray’s hand was going to pull his gun when he saw the knife the Vagabond was holding, but he stopped just as quickly as he started to pull his gun. There was a deep voice half singing, half chanting a song that Ray almost couldn’t place until the Vagabond started stabbing the knife around his fingers.

“There is an old tradition, a game we all can play. You grab your knife and pray and spread apart your fingers, and that is what you say…” The Vagabond’s voice came out roughly before his hand flew and started slamming the knife down in between his fingers quickly and swiftly, stabbing the knife into the wood and leaving marks. There was no doubt in Ray’s mind that if the Vagabond missed he would lose a finger.

Ray cleared his throat loudly to alert the two to his presence and the Vagabond stopped stabbing, flicking the knife back closed and shoving it in his pocket.

“X-Ray! I was just saying to the Vagabond that if he thinks he’s so big and scary than he might as well prove it right? So I told him to do the knife game or I’d tell everyone he’s just a big old baby. A great idea, innit?” Gavin slurred, leaning against the bar.

The asshole was fucking trashed. Ray glanced at the shot glasses next to Gavin and was pretty sure once he had left, Gavin had just started drinking even more and Ray was going to have the grand pleasure of dragging his drunk ass home. Ray was nowhere near high enough to not be annoyed by it. “Well did the Vagabond prove he’s not a little fluffy bunny in a skull mask?”

“Yuupers! X-Ray, wait! You’re a scary bloke too right? I bet you a hundred bucks you can’t play the knife game faster than the Vagabond without hurting yourself!”

Ray didn’t want to do that. He knew with the way the Vagabond was staring at him now that he couldn’t back off without looking like he was weak, but Ray was a little high and he really didn’t feel like chopping off one of his fingers. Looking from Gavin to the Vagabond, Ray sighed mentally before forcing a smile to his face. “Fuck yeah Vav. Come on Vagabond, you fancy a little wager? You versus me. We’ll bet for Vav’s money.” Ray hoped he came off as confident.

It felt like being under a microscope the way the dark pits that were the Vagabond’s eyes stared at Ray. Ray wasn’t even able to see what color they were, but he could feel the weight of them on him. It was the weight of a dangerous man. Good thing Ray was dangerous too.

“Betting money in our business isn’t that big of a deal. Sure, for Ramsey’s group they might be interested in 100 bucks, but I’m sure with all your assassinations you don’t care about 100 dollars. How about we bet on something more interesting?” The Vagabond suggested calmly. It was eerie how he spoke. Or maybe that was just the fact that the Vagabond had pulled out the knife from earlier and was flipping it around in between his fingers. “If I win you’ll help me on a job for no pay. Some asshole in New York needs a bullet in his head, but he’s too protected for me to take on my own. I’m not looking to get killed going after a dirty politician. You help for free with that if I can cut faster than you.”

Ray licked his lips and tried to think of what his reward would be. A joke about a blow job was at the forefront of Ray’s mind, but that hit far too close to home to Ray’s first meeting of the Vagabond. Given the hard stop, Ray knew the Vagabond was waiting for him to say something, but Ray couldn’t think of anything he wanted.

“Oh, and if we’re doing this, you’re chopping around the magpie’s fingers. This bet wouldn’t do shit for me if you lose your fingers and can’t use that rifle of yours anymore,” Vagabond said, the knife stilling suddenly in his fingers, blade out and ready.

It was then that it really hit Ray. It was true that Gavin had threatened him when they first met, but really Gavin and the others had done him a huge favor wiping those files on him. Ray was certain he wouldn’t have known to be prepared for anything without Gavin and the others. They had essentially saved his life and sure, it was in exchange for Ray’s assistance on this job, but Ray hadn’t really thought about it earlier… Ray hadn’t thought about what this job meant to all of them. If they failed a second time, the Marcus guy would be coming after them with a vengeance. They would get wiped out. Right now, they were just an annoyance, but a second attempt would mean their lives. They would be hunted down. At least that’s what Ray’s weed addled brain told him. That was why they had offered for Ray to join. They liked him and letting him join was them extending a promise to protect him against any fallout. If this failed, Ray would have to skip town. Marcus’s gang was no joke. The offer to join the Fakes wasn’t just them wanting a sniper to add to their numbers, it was friendship and all that other gay shit.

“If I win you give your word that you won’t hurt any of my crew. You give your word that after this job you’ll never take a job against any of us ever again,” Ray said, meeting the dark holes where Ray should have been able to see the Vagabond’s eyes.

There was a brief pause as Ray stared the other man down, but it was broken quickly by Gavin whose drunk brain had finally caught up. “Magpie? You think I’m a bloody magpie?”

The tension was broken at that and the Vagabond let out a chuckle. “You’ve got a deal then, BrownMan.”

The knife was extended to Ray and he took it, testing the weight of it a little bit. Looking over at his friend, Ray smiled lazily at him. “Vav you can’t move an inch or I might take your finger.”

Gavin nodded enthusiastically at that and laid out his hand. He either didn’t know the danger of having a knife quickly stabbed down next to his fingers or was too stupid to care.

Giving the knife an experimental stab on the bar top, Ray got a feeling for how quickly he’d be able to go without endangering Gavin’s fingers. Ray got the feeling the invitation to join the Fakes would be revoked if Ray took one of the Brit’s fingers. Geoff seemed too fond of Gavin to be happy about that.

Ray looked up to tell the Vagabond he was ready, but there wasn’t anyone there. A few seconds later, Ryan came back with a woman who also had a mask on. It made sense that the Vagabond would only hang out with weird assholes that wore masks all the time.

“You two meet in the “I’m so edgy and cool with my mask” club?” Ray asked before he could stop himself.

The woman just laughed a little bit and held out her hand to Ray. “No there’s just some people around here who want me dead so I’m laying low and hiding my face. I mean have you seen some of the weirdos here? My mask at least doesn’t have barely cleaned blood on it.”

It was true. The bar was criminal friendly and never visited by the cops so a lot of Los Santos’s finest hung around there and masks weren’t exactly uncommon. People who wanted to get out and drink or meet up with others, but didn’t want their identities known would come and wear masks. Hell, Ray had come wearing a mask a few times himself.

“I’m Dollface by the way. Tall dark and edgy here is helping protect me. He said you guys have a bet going on and he wants knife song for you. I used to play it all the time so I got good at singing it really fast.”

“BrownMan. This is Vav,” Ray said shaking Dollface’s hand lightly before gesturing to Gavin. Ray figured it would be better to use codenames rather than real names. “Let’s do this then.”

The Vagabond pulled out another knife and held it over his hand at the ready.

Ray grabbed Gavin’s hand, not noticing that Gavin was staring at Dollface, but instead focusing on not cutting off one of Gavin’s fingers. As Dollface started singing the song and Ray started stabbing, he wasn’t really even paying attention to the song, just listening for the beat of the song to stab on time and keep up with the rhythm and not spill any blood. He chopped down and moved quickly, striking accurately each time. Ray’s eyes tracked the knife moving with it as he hit the blank spaces in between Gavin’s fingers, stabbing into the wood of the bar a little each time and having to pull out just as fast. The knife was sharp if the way it cut into the wood was any indication. Ray had no doubt that at the speed and strength he was stabbing at if he got one of Gavin’s fingers dead on it would be lost completely. It was okay though. Ray’s mind felt clearer than it had in a while. He’d been drifting through life for so long and now he felt like he was clearer. Like he could see things better and understand his place in that city a little better. He wasn’t going to hurt Gavin or Michael or anyone else. He was going to stick around with them and see what happened. They were there offering him companionship and Ray wanted it. So, he chopped faster and faster, his hand accelerating and moving quickly between Gavin’s fingers, not hitting any of them, not drawing a drop of blood. Ray could hear his heart pounding in his ears as he struck the wood. His adrenaline was pumping and he felt like he could fight a bear when the song suddenly stopped and Ray heard the Vagabond speak.

“I give.”

Stopping over Gavin’s hand, Ray looked up at the Vagabond for a second before turning around and throwing the knife at the dart board behind him, the knife sticking into the bullseye of the board. Breathing quickly, Ray looked at the Vagabond for a moment before smirking. “It’ll be a pleasure doing business with you, Ryan.”

With that Ray quickly grabbed Gavin’s wrist and all but dragged him out of the bar.

Ryan tracked Ray and Gavin’s movements as they walked out of the bar, not making a move to follow either of them.

“You’re right Rye, he is cute!” Dollface exclaimed with a half smirk, half smile.

“Shut up,” Ryan muttered, turning back to his companion. It was a good thing he had his mask on so she wouldn’t be able to see the blush dusting his cheeks.

A giggle was all Ryan got in response as his partner spoke again.

“I can’t wait to meet the rest of them. You really know how to pick the most interesting people to team up with, yeah?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo really long chapter! I hope you enjoyed. I'm probably going to try to finish this story up a little faster than I originally planned to. Or I might drop the story entirely. I'm kind of losing motivation for it. I don't think I'll drop it without finishing it or at least divulging what was going to happen. Maybe in writing the next chapter I'll get super motivated, but right now I'm just not feeling this story as much. 
> 
> Either way I really hope you liked this chapter (I wrote it like a month ago before this writer's slump happened). Have a great day! fahc-dusttostars is my tumblr if you're interested.


	8. Let's Heist

It was annoying as dicks to have to stay in bed and rest. Geoff didn’t think himself a very active guy, but if he couldn’t get up and walk around he couldn’t sneak alcohol when Jack wasn’t looking. Not that she was ever not looking. If Geoff had thoughts that Jack was hovering and overprotective earlier it was nothing compared to then. Geoff felt like he could hardly breath without Jack’s disapproving gaze staring down at him. He got shot one time and Jack decided she needed to be a helicopter parent. Though, at least with Jack watching him like a hawk, Geoff could tell Griffon that she didn’t need to come see him. That was the last thing Geoff wanted after all, for Griffon to come back to the city and be in danger from Marcus because he fucked up. Geoff couldn’t do that to her.

“Geoff you can’t go with us,” Jack said quickly. Geoff just rolled his eyes.

“It’s my heist idea, I’m going. I’m not going to just lay here while you guys go on the Fake AH Crew’s first heist. We all have to be there for it!” Geoff shot back, sitting up and starting to get out of bed. He’d prove to Jack that he was fine. He’d get up and be fucking fine. Or he would have if not for the fact that moving hurt like dicks.

There was that disapproving glare coming from Jack again. Geoff couldn’t help the wince that came from moving.

Michael even seemed to be giving Geoff a disapproving glare. Probably something he reserved for Gavin. Geoff almost laughed to himself at that. He had no clue how the Brit had charmed a fireball like Michael to hang around when Michael only seemed to be annoyed by Gavin’s antics, but Geoff was glad he did stick around. Gavin got into too much trouble if he asked Geoff. Not that Geoff could talk.

“You can’t fucking move without acting like your guts are going to fall out. And from what fucking…. What the fuck was his name? The doctor Dencour whatever. He said you need to stay put till you’re healed all the way or you’ll start bleeding out again and if you get fucking blood in my car I’ll cut off your dick. Gavin goes in and holds the place up, I’ll stay outside ready to drive away. It’s easy as shit. We’re not even fucking robbing a bank. One cop _might_ get called,” Michael snapped at Geoff.

“Gavin can’t walk without tripping over his feet. He doesn’t do up front shit like this. He’ll never be able to do it without getting hurt,” Geoff said glaring back at Michael before continuing. “Besides he’s the only one who knows shit about computers so if he goes down the crew’s not going to make it anywhere.”

Geoff could feel Jack’s glare only getting stronger. “You’re not going Geoff. I don’t care if I have to strap you down or call your wife on you you’re staying.”

“You need to get laid so that stick up your ass goes away,” Geoff mumbled huffily.

“You offering?”

At that, the tension and anger of the room faded out a little bit and Geoff couldn’t help, but start laughing like a mad man. “Fuck Jack you almost sounded serious there. Shit if it’ll get you to stop wearing the fucking flower shirts I’ll close my eyes and pretend your Griff.”

A chuckle left Jack as well and she smiled lightly at Geoff. “Don’t tell Griffon that. She’d have your head. Or dick if she’s feeling cruel.”

Geoff was ready to reply back when the door to their little hideout opened quickly.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeee’re hooooooooome!” Came the loud announcement of a drunk British man.

There were some crashing noises and what sounded to Geoff like curses in a different language before the bedroom door finally opened and revealed an annoyed Puerto Rican with a very drunk Brit hanging on his shoulder.

“He won’t get off of me. He keeps clinging to me and fucking cooing about this girl.”

It was kind of funny for Geoff to see Gavin so wasted. He knew the other was a light weight through and through, but he must have really gotten into it if he was this far gone. Geoff had a suspicion that it was partly to deal with meeting the Vagabond. He knew Gavin had a tendency to  drink heavier when he was meeting new people he didn’t trust.

It was still fucking funny to see Gavin perk up at seeing Michael and teeter over to the red head. “Micol! Micol! We made a bet with Vag-y-bond. Ray’s just as scary as him you should’ve seen it. The knife went chop chop chop and Ray didn’t get his fingers at all and then there was this girl and she was singing this song and then Ray threw a knife into a board without hardly looking at it! It was bloody scary. Vagabond seemed minged he lost, but Ray just grabbed me and we left! Ray’s so scary!”

Geoff chuckled at the sight of Gavin clinging to Michael and seeing that Michael’s annoyance over getting clung to wasn’t real.

Refocusing his attention to Ray, Geoff could see the other seem to be worried with the way that he was chewing his lip, but Geoff didn’t say anything about it. Ray wasn’t one of their crew as of that point so Geoff was avoiding getting concerned for the other. It was hard for him though. The three, Ray, Gavin and Michael, that was, they were so young and Geoff just couldn’t help, but be worried about them. He’d been in the business for so long that Geoff knew the only way he’d probably get out was through death, but Geoff could see that the three lads had a chance to leave and have legitimate lives. From what Geoff had heard nothing had ever been pinned on any of them so Geoff knew they’d be able to manage. Geoff could see it too. Gavin was good enough with computers and charming enough he’d easily be able to rise up in any field with computers. Michael knew how wires worked together to create those explosions and he’d been an electrician before his pyromantic tendencies got the best of him. Geoff knew the curly haired man could go to that. Well, Geoff didn’t know much about Ray, but fuck if the kid could get paid for playing video games, Geoff knew Ray would make a killing. Watching Ray kick both Michael and Gavin’s asses at Halo had been hilarious.

Maybe Geoff was just getting old, but he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt when it came to the idea that he was dragging these kids into danger by building a crew with them. Not that Geoff would admit that to anyone. He’d appear weak and in this fucking city appearing weak meant signing your death sentence. Geoff was smarter than that.

Besides, Geoff needed them to protect Griffon and well, Geoff wasn’t sure if there were any lines out there that he wouldn’t cross for her. She was the most important thing in the world to him and he wouldn’t let his sentimental nonsense get in the way of keeping her sfae.

“Ray you wanna shed some light on what happened before we have to decipher fuckface’s rambling?” Michael snapped from the side, drawing Geoff from his thoughts.

A smirk rose on Ray’s face, any nervousness Geoff saw was gone. “I’m surprised fuckface was even able to give as much of an explanation as he did. He was busy imagining this chick naked for so long I figured he wasn’t even paying attention. I mean seriously dude fucking get some or at least manage to keep it in your pants around a pretty girl,” Ray remarked with a shrug.

Geoff let out a laugh and shook his head before turning back to Ray when he heard his name.

“Geoff… If the offer to join your crew is still open, I’d like to. I kind of told Vagabond that I was already part of your crew and made him promise he wouldn’t take hits on us. Oh yeah guess I should explain better. Vagabond was there talking to Gavin while I was playing pool or in the bathroom or some shit and when I came back Vagabond was showing Gavin the knife game and Gavin was fucking trashed so I figured we should get out of there, but then Vagabond offered a bet so I took him up on it. We did the knife game to see who’d get it faster. I won. I’m kind of good with knives you know? Makes it nice if someone gets the drop on me while I’m sniping. My end of the bet was that Vagabond wouldn’t take a hit on us ever again. He agreed so yeah, take that as my offering to be able to join the crew,” Ray said with another shrug.

It was obviously more of a symbolic thing for Ray to offer something to be allowed to join their crew. With their sorry group Ray was doing them more of a favor by joining, though with Geoff’s plans it wouldn’t be that way for long. “Good, you’re in, not that I had much of a choice. Gav would suck someone’s dick to have you in the crew and we can’t upset our wittle Gavvy can we?” Geoff said sarcastically. He ignored the slurred hey coming from Gavin and kept eye contact with Ray.

“Though speaking of the crew, Jack and I have planned our first heist. Well first two heists I guess. We’re going to try to hit two shops at the same time. High end thrifty shops, but on other ends of town. The cops will be a bit spread out so it’ll make escaping easier for you. Plus, Gavin has a habit of keeping tabs on the station and finding out when they’re the least staffed and which cops are suspected of being dirty. It’ll make it easier for you guys to get away, plus you and Jack will be taking the sky. Michael and Gavin will be taking the underground. It’ll make it even harder for you guys to be followed that way,” Geoff explained calmly. He knew that wasn’t much information, but a lot of information to take in at the same time.

Ray, to his credit though, just nodded acceptingly. “Whose balls do I have to fondle to convince you to buy some decent armor?”

Geoff chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I have a contact in town whose willing to give us a discount on shit we need on the promise of a cut of what we get. We’ll be buying most of our shit from him after these heists anyway. Good?”

At Ray’s nod, Geoff snapped, “Good then get the fuck out of my room. I want to sleep and Gavin smells like booze and Jack won’t let me drink right now.”

 As Michael and Ray helped Gavin out of Geoff’s room, Geoff could feel the judgmental eyes pressing against his skull, but Geoff didn’t want to face them just yet. He had a feeling that he wasn’t really going to like whatever Jack had to say so he really didn’t want to turn around and face the woman. It wasn’t that unusual for Jack to want to talk to him about something and for Geoff to just want to ignore it. Geoff knew he couldn’t just ignore his problems, he just really wished he could.

“If you’ve got something to say, Jack, just spit it out. I’m worried one day your eyes will turn into lasers and blast my head clean off,” Geoff remarked snarkily.

Looking over at Jack, Geoff could immediately see that he had been right about her having something to say. “Geoff, I know you don’t want to involve too many people so this whole crew thing can be small and well as in control as you can, but for the plan you’ve got with Marcus we need another person who’s good with technology. I know you want Gavin inside again and having someone on the outside to watch things and to keep a communication line up between all of us. Gavin can’t do that while being the distraction.”

“And I’m guessing you’re telling me all of this because you have a solution?”

“Yeah I do. I don’t know his real name, but he goes by axialmatt. He’s the best, the very best, but word is he’s never worked with a crew before. From what I’ve heard he’ll do the occasional job with people, but never more than once. He’s also nearly impossible to reach, but I asked Gavin to look into it in the past few days and he found out that the only thing really known about him is that he’s really good friends with this guy that’s involved in an underground fighting ring. J “the Monster Truck” Doolz. Michael and Gavin can go and talk to this guy and try to find some way to contact this guy while you, me, and Ray talk to Vagabond and whoever he’s bringing with him.”

“Why do you think this fighter would be willing to help us?”

Jack shrugged, but a light smile danced its way onto her face. “I don’t know. Gavin is known as the Golden Boy for having a way with words and people. I figured if anyone could, Gavin would be able to convince this guy.”

It wasn’t a great plan, but it was better than anything Geoff could think of. “How do you know this guy won’t hurt Gavin?”

“I don’t, that’s why we need to send Michael with him. Michael’s been working with him for a year now so it makes sense for them to do this together. Michael’s got a good sense as to when danger is around. You’ve got to be able to see how close they are. Michael won’t let Gavin get hurt.”

“Sounds like a plan. We heist and then we meet up with Vagabond and then we gut Marcus like the pig he is,” Geoff said with a nod to himself. He wasn’t sure it would all work out, but he was excited to be moving forward and keeping things going.

A smirk made its way onto Geoff’s face after a moment before he said, “But with all that going on we won’t have any time…”

Jack groaned, knowing this wasn’t going anywhere she wanted it to. “Any time for what, Geoff?”

“You to get laid.”

“You’re just so hilarious.”

“I know.”

\-------------------------

The next morning included Gavin bitching about his hangover, Ray talking about needing to find a place to stay with a working door, Michael cussing out said door as he tried to fix it, and Jack wanting to commit murder of four as Geoff snoozed in his bed, blissfully unaware about what was going on. That was until Jack decided it was time to wake him up in the most unpleasant way possible, shooting a bullet just a little above his sleeping head.

Geoff woke with a start at the loud noise and jumped up, covering his face, assuming someone had come to get their revenge, but settled down when he saw Jack standing with a gun. Putting a hand to his chest, Geoff took in a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down. Glaring at Geoff, he wondered briefly if Jack would be able to shoot him before he pulled out the gun under his pillow and gave her a taste of her own medicine. The answer was yes, Jack could shoot him faster, especially since she already knew about the gun under his pillow. Laying back down and pulling the blankets over his head, Geoff mumbled grumpily, “You’re lucky we live in a shitty apartment building or we’d have the cops called on us.”

“Geoff it’s 12 in the fucking afternoon and if I have to play babysitter for those three any longer we won’t have a crew anymore because I will kill everyone in here via cutting off all your fucking dicks,” Jack snapped. “They want to know what this heist is and when we’re doing it and since you refused to give me the details on it, we need you to get your ass out of bed.”

“Why are you being so mean to me I’m hurt! Where’d momma Jack go she’s a lot nicer than bitch Jack,” Geoff whined loudly.

Peeking out from under the covers, Geoff could easily see the smirk on Jack’s face. “You’re the one who insisted he was fine for heisting. I’m not going to baby you if you’re going to whine about it the whole time like a little bitch.”

Huffing, Geoff sat up fully and glared at Jack without another word. The tension in the room was thick as they stared each other down, the gun in Jack’s hand clearly visible. To anyone else it would look like they were getting ready to kill one another, but the tension was broken suddenly as Geoff frowned and asked, “Did you at least make me breakfast?”

“Nope,” Jack replied cheerfully as she left the room, knowing that Geoff would get up and get ready then.

Geoff huffed before forcing himself to get up. His wound still hurt like a bitch, but he was doing his best to not let the others see it. Geoff wanted to be strong for them especially if he was supposed to be the leader of their crew. To Geoff that meant not showing his pain or letting people know when he was having a hard time. Geoff wanted to be strong for these people. He wanted to make a family out of this crew and that meant doing anything in his power to keep them confident.

Getting up out of bed, Geoff winced before moving out of the room. He straightened up and ignored the pain that tinged through his body. Maybe he would decide to not go on the heist. It would make more sense for him to not and he really didn’t want to have to worry about doing something stupid like reopening his wound or some shit like that. Plus if he did go, Jack was sure to just nag at him the entire time about how stupid and stubborn he was to go on either one of the heists. Geoff knew he was a stubborn person, but he also knew when he needed to back off, or at least he liked to think he knew when to back off.

The sound of Gavin squawking and yelling gave Geoff the impression that the lads were playing video games and as he came into the living room, he found that he was right. Looking at the three, Geoff grinned and said, “Listen up dick munchers. Today we’re going to do the Fakes first heist. First two heists in fact. Gavin and Michael you’re going to be hitting up the jewelry store in down town. The real fancy nice one. Just before that though, Jack and Ray will hit up a gas station on the other side of town. The idea is for Jack and Ray to let the cops come and start swarming the place. The idea is that Jack and Ray will be able to escape pretty easily with how well Jack drives, but will the cops on you two they won’t be focused on Michael and Gavin’s little heist. The jewelry store will have a lot more money and a lot of valuable things to get. I think if we pull it off tonight it’ll go off pretty well. We’ll want to do it just before the jewelry store closes that way there are less civs in the store. I don’t want anyone to get killed that isn’t necessary to kill. If you can aim to put people down not to kill. Any questions?”

Geoff was met with silence and he nodded at them before pointing at the screen and saying, “Gav you’re on fire.”

“XRay how could you?!” Gavin squawked loudly before everyone turned back to the video game.

\---------------------

Maybe if Michael hadn’t seen Gavin sweet talk people out of hundreds of dollars, he would be a little more nervous, but as he felt Gavin clinging to his back on his motorcycle, Michael felt pretty confident. Maybe that had something to do with the powerful feeling of Gavin holding onto him. Michael wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he did like the way that if he took a fast turn Gavin would cling just a little bit tighter. It was a tangible sign of Gavin’s trust in him and Michael liked it in more ways than one.

Not that that thought would ever be voiced out loud.

Having looked into the city’s layout before leaving, Gavin had told Michael that there was an alleyway they could park the bike in without any issue to run to after they robbed the store. As Michael pulled into the alleyway, he couldn’t help but look up to the sky. The sun was starting to set and Michael felt the urge to drive up to the mountain and just hang out with his friend. Gavin was nice to hang out with even if Michael spent half the time yelling at him. Gavin was fucking annoying when he wanted to be, but Michael knew sometimes when he’d get quiet and they’d just sit together, Gavin was thinking about something serious and those times were Michael’s favorite times. Maybe after they finished this heist, Michael would drive up Mt. Chiliad to escape the cops instead of heading back to Geoff’s. He’d claim something about wanting to celebrate the success with his boy and no one would question why Michael suddenly decided they needed to hang out. So what if Michael couldn’t help but be a little upset at the little amount of time that he’d gotten to spend with Gavin as of late. With Ray hanging out with Gavin and Gavin rekindling his friendship with Geoff, Michael couldn’t help but feel pissed and left out. Especially after Gavin and Ray went to talk to the Vagabond and Michael had been left behind. That had been bullshit.

At least Gavin and Michael were on the same team for this heist. Which was a good decision since this was the kind of shit they had done before teaming up with Geoff. In fact, this reminded Michael a little of the first time they had actually even met. Back when Michael was in a crew he hated and was thinking of moving on to a different city. Michael wasn’t given long to think though as he stopped his bike and Gavin hopped off the back.

Standing up himself, Michael put his helmet on the seat of the bike and looked at Gavin. “You ready to go in or do you need a minute to breath?”

Michael knew that while there wasn’t much of a chance of anyone being in the store other than an employee, there was still a chance someone would try to play hero and they would get shot. Sure, Gavin had no problem causing destruction and destroying people, but that was typically without bloodshed and Michael kew well that the sight of blood seemed to make Gavin a little sick to his stomach. Michael was normally the one to deal with the blood and shooting of people, but in this case he was going to be keeping his gun on the employee to make sure the cops didn’t get called too soon. If a random civilian walked into the shop, Gavin would be the one to have to deal with it. They were both going to be grabbing stuff, though. Gavin was going to be in charge of pointing out the most valuable things so they didn’t end up getting dragged down with a bunch of useless shit.

A nod was given in his direction and Michael patted his side to make sure that he had his gun on him. Hopefully he wouldn’t need it. Pulling on a normal mask to hide his identity, Michael watched Gavin pull on his gaudy gold sunglasses before they both started towards the store entrance.

Michael was the first one in, immediately pulling out his gun and aiming at the man behind the counter. “Put your fucking hands up if you don’t want your head blown off.”

Glancing at Gavin, Michael commanded, “Camera.”

After hearing the shot that took out the camera, Michael glared at the man standing behind the counter and demanded, “Give us all your money and whatever valuables we want and you’ll get through this workday unharmed, got it?”

The man nodded and Michael tossed him the bag he had in hand, indicating for him to put the money in the bag. Michael kept the gun trained on the other confidently as he watched. He could hear Gavin strolling around as though nothing was going on. Probably twirling his fucking gaudy as shit yellow pistol. That was the way it was supposed to go with them. Michael acted as though he were just a random hired thug and Gavin acted as though he was too important to be bothered. It worked pretty well if Michael were to give his opinion. Especially when people with vendettas against Gavin tried to buy him off. Michael relished in the look people gave when they realized he was loyal to Gavin, relished in the fact that he was protecting Gavin from his enemies.

Once all the money from the register was in the bag, Michael heard Gavin walking up behind him. Michael could see Gavin in his peripheral looking down at the items within the glass case. Pointing at a particularly gaudy looking watch, Gavin said, “I want that one.”

Michael could see the man hesitating and clicked back the safety on his gun. “Give him whatever he wants.”

As the watch was passed over the counter, Michael could see the grin on Gavin’s face and felt a bit of warmth blossom inside his chest. He did like making his boy happy.

Gavin looked at the watch and held it up to the light for a moment, a wide grin on his face before pointing at one of the shelves in the counter. It held an array of gold jewelry with embedded jewels. It looked nice to Michael at least.

“Put all of those in the bag,” Gavin commanded.

Michael smirked to himself. It was interesting seeing Gavin this way. Michael was used to goofy, going to trip over his own two feet Gavin, but this Gavin, Golden Boy Gavin as he’d been called by people was the really interesting person in Michael’s opinion. Confident and commanding, Michael wasn’t sure if there were many people in the world who would face off with him. Well very few that would face off with Gavin when there was a gun in their face. Michael could feel the arrogance, but in a good way. In a way that made people jump when Gavin told them to. Michael loved it.

Once Gavin had finished pulling out his selection of jewels to take, Michael started backing up towards the door, keeping his gun trained on the employee. He knew Gavin was waiting at the door with their bag of loot in hand as he kept his eyes on the man in front of them to insure they had the maximum amount of time to escape the police. Michael was just about to turn around and start running when Gavin spoke again, “Oh and if you don’t want all of your customers to know you’re been selling knockoffs in here, I’d suggest you wait until tomorrow to inform the police of our little meeting. I mean a few stolen goods and cash is nothing compared to getting your store shut down and sue, innit?”

Michael grinned before turning on his heel and running out the door, stowing his gun in his waistband with the safety on. Sprinting out of the store and around the corner, Michael’s grin only grew as he realized he couldn’t hear the alarm going off in the store behind them. “Fuck Gav I love you, you snobby piece of shit.”

“I know, boi.”

\---------------------

 “Geoff says that Jack and Ray are fine and back with him. Apparently they did get shot at, but Ray was able to get the tires of the police following them so they got out fine. Now will you tell me where we’re going?” Gavin practically shouted, trying to be heard over the motorcycle.

Michael had stopped for a moment to allow Gavin to pull out his phone and call Geoff, but after had continued driving. He wanted to get all the way up Mt. Chiliad before the sun finished setting fully. He hadn’t told Gavin where they were going though, even if Gavin thought it was pretty fucking obvious with the fact that they were driving up a fucking mountain, but Michael wasn’t going to say anything. If Gavin wanted to be an idiot he could. Not that they were that far away from where Michael was going. He knew there was an abandoned house on the top of the mountain and that it was easy to get to the top of so they could sit up there and hang out for a bit. Just him and Gavin. The idea made Michael happy at the least.

Stopping the motorcycle, Michael put the kickstand down before getting off and looking at Gavin. “Only you would ask where we’re fucking going when we’re climbing the only mountain in this whole damn city. Come on you fucking idiot let’s climb up to the top and watch the sunset like that time we first met.”

It was hard not to laugh at the stupid look on Gavin’s face, but Michael held it in as he turned and started climbing to the top of the building, knowing that Gavin would follow him. This was, well not to sound like a stupid couple, their spot. It was where they’d first hung out and well the first time that Michael ever hit Gavin. If that didn’t describe their relationship, though, Michael didn’t know what would. In Michael’s defense, Gavin had been holding a gun up to him and well Michael felt like at that point anything was fair game.

Sitting on the edge of the roof, Michael turned around and looked at Gavin getting situated next to him, pulling the bag around to look in it. “Look at all this stuff Michael! Bloody hell it’s going to bring us a lot of money if sold to the right people. We might be able to find another place to set up as a base with this load. You think Geoff’ll let me keep this watch though?”

“Only if you suck his dick.”

Michael laughed as Gavin shoved him in response to his comment. This was what he’d missed about just hanging out with Gavin instead of hanging out with everyone else at the same time.

“You’re such an arse sometimes.”

“Isn’t that why you like me?” Michael joked.

“I suppose. Though it might be more about how you do all the dirty work,” Gavin joked back.

“Yeah well since you’re such a fucking pussy about it someone has to do it.”

“No I’m serious Michael. I’m really glad I met you and that we work together, you know? It’s nice having a partner in crime, innit?” Gavin said before falling quiet for a moment. “I dunno, this is stupid, but I feel a lot safer knowing you’re there with a gun. Like I know you’re not going to let anyone touch me. Other than B back in England no one’s made me feel like that. It’s nice.”

Michael was taken aback by the sudden serious subject, but he just listened to Gavin quiet. He wasn’t sure what to say, distracted by the sudden fluttering of his chest as Gavin talked about how Michael was like his safety net. It was weird and Michael couldn’t place the feeling, but for some reason if made him happy to hear Gavin talk about that. Michael wanted Gavin to feel safe because well it was true. If anyone touched Gavin, Michael would tear them apart. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to Gavin if he could help it. Gavin was that important to him.

“That’s gay,” Michael said with a smirk, not giving away his inner thoughts and ignoring the flutter in this chest.

“You’re such a smeg pot sometimes,” Gavin replied with a laugh.

Michael just laughed as well and laid back on the roof, staring up at the sky with a soft smile on his face. “Shut up and enjoy the view,” Michael snapped instead of giving an actual reply.

Staring up at the sky, Michael couldn’t help, but reflect on how different his life would have been without meeting Gavin. He wouldn’t have formed a crew with people. He probably would have ended up in jail or dead somewhere too. Michael stared up into the sky and could see the colors fading from oranges, reds, and yellows to blues and blacks. For once, Michael didn’t feel apprehension at the idea of a new day and the future. He was happy, excited almost to start the next day and see where it would lead him. It was weird. Normally Michael didn’t feel as serene, but for some reason Gavin seemed to have that effect on him and Michael would have been lying if he said he didn’t like it.

A little bit later, Michael could hear the soft sounds Gavin would make when he was starting to fall asleep and Michael could feel the other clinging to his side. It would be bad if Gavin fell asleep because then he wouldn’t be awake enough to hang on to Michael on the motorcycle on their way back to Geoff’s so Michael sat up and shook Gavin roughly. “Get up idiot, we need to go back before you fall asleep and we have to stay out here all night. I don’t want to have to deal with you falling off my bike and getting all scratched up. You’re a fucking baby when you get hurt.”

“’am not.”

“Yes you are. You got a fucking paper cut last week and wouldn’t stop whining like “Micoo my wittle finger is all minged up!” It was fucking annoying.”

“You’re all minged up.”

“Good one, now get the fuck up so we can go home and sleep in a real bed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not going to give up on this fic. I like it and I want to finish it. So it will get finished I promise. I'm going to eventually plot out each chapter so I know what's going to happen and where things will end which will help me. Updates will probably be slower than before though. As of right now I'm going to try for an every other week kind of thing, but it might end up being more like once a month depending on how busy things are. 
> 
> Anyway you can find me at fahc-dusttostars.tumblr.com. Please leave a comment with thoughts, critiques, or how you're doing today. Have a great day!


	9. Expansion part 1

Jack woke up that day feeling apprehensive. It made sense. After all, she was in charge of keeping Geoff’s big mouth from getting him, her and Ray killed, which was a job in itself without dealing with a deadly mercenary rumored to enjoy what he does far too much. It was a little nerve wracking so what did she do? She made pancakes in the morning for breakfast and then baked cupcakes once she’d forced some of her pancakes down everyone’s throats. If Geoff thought he was going to get off easy and not have to wake up early and eat breakfast he was wrong. Jack was in charge that fucking day and Geoff was going to listen to her because she really didn’t feel like getting killed by the Vagabond.

It didn’t help that Geoff seemed just as amped up, but more about Gavin and Michael’s little mission than talking with the Vagabond. He’d gone over the plan to meet up with this underground fighter at least twice that morning with Gavin and was already halfway through his third beer. Jack was displeased with him for drinking before an important meeting and the fact that her concern had been blown off with a “if he was going to kill us he already would have.” In Jack’s opinion, Geoff seemed to have a fucked up view of how murder worked. She knew he was just worried about getting Gavin hurt again, but it seemed like even Gavin was starting to get annoyed by Geoff’s constant reminders and threats to Michael to protect him.

Ray was Jack’s saving grace. At least in her opinion he was helping keep the sanity together. It seemed like the second Gavin started to get too upset about Geoff’s overprotectiveness, Ray would start talking to him and Michael about some video game he saw recently or, as he did earlier, he’d challenge Geoff to some game and get them all distracted watching their crappy little TV and game system.

Plans had already been made to use some money to replace the TV once they found a new place to stay. Jack wasn’t sure when that was going to happen. Michael had suggested they all just get separate apartments in the same complex whereas Gavin had suggested getting a house outside the city so they would be able to hide from the police. Geoff had vetoed both ideas in favor of suggesting a penthouse that they all lived in.

Good luck finding a penthouse with five separate rooms, had been Jack’s thoughts on that.

Jack let out a soft sigh and continued wandering around. The Vagabond hadn’t exactly given them a specific time he was going to show up, but Ray had suggested it wouldn’t be until the afternoon, not that Jack knew how Ray knew that. It seemed as though Ray had contact with the Vagabond prior to the meeting at the bar. Jack was extremely curious about it and probably would have given a lot to know what had happened, but she also respected Ray enough to not question it. It helped that Geoff told her Ray had told Geoff about it and well despite Jack’s worrying, she did have faith in Geoff to make a good decision on who was in their little group.

It was nice being able to put her faith in people and know they’ll keep their promises. Jack knew from personal experience it was hard to put faith into people and have it actually turn out well, but Geoff had never let her down. Geoff kept his promises and tried his best and that was probably the reason that Jack would follow him to the ends of the earth.

After hearing Geoff start nagging Gavin again shortly after they had a little lunch, Jack decided it was time to get the Brit and his partner in crime out the door. She wasn’t sure she trusted herself enough to not snap Geoff’s neck if he kept pestering the two and if she was getting that annoyed by it, they had to be at the end of their ropes too.

“Hey Gavin, Michael, why don’t you guys leave now and get there early? The match you’re watching starts in an hour and it’s probably a good idea to scope out the area a little bit. You know, make sure that if he tries to run away from you guys you can catch him or at least know where his escapes will lead?” Jack suggested with a pleasant smile. She made eye contact with both of them and hoped it was getting across the message that she was giving them an out or rather just a way to get the fuck away from Geoff for a little bit. 

It looked like Gavin was going to argue for a second before Michael pulled on him and said, “Great idea Jack. We’ll see you guys around. I’ll text when the fight starts so Geoff doesn’t have a hernia while we’re gone, bye!”

As the door slammed shut behind them, Jack let out a soft breath and looked at Geoff. “Alright, now that you’re done mamma bearing Gavin, make some fucking lunch. I’m going to kick Ray’s ass in Mario Cart,” Jack demanded before throwing herself on the couch. She’d been dealing with it and taking care of them all morning, it was Geoff’s turn to do some shit and she felt like maybe Ray could use a bit of human interaction that wasn’t trying to run interference between Geoff and everyone else in the tiny ass apartment.

Jack noticed that Ray had already started up the gaming system and she could hear the sounds of Mario Cart going. She didn’t need to look back to know that Geoff was probably grumbling and making a face at the idea of having to cook. Jack didn’t know why. Geoff was an excellent chef, but he seemed to hate the idea of cooking. Once he started cooking he loved it, but getting him to do it in the first place was like pulling teeth. Good thing Jack knew how to get Geoff to do things he didn’t want to. “Cooking will distract you from thinking about Gavin you know?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Geoff grumbled out loud. It was accompanied by the sound of pots and pans being moved so Jack knew that he was doing as she told him to.

Turning to Ray for a moment, Jack gave a smile before saying, “Ready to get your ass kicked?”

\-------------------

To say Ryan was annoyed would have been an understatement. It wasn’t that he didn’t like people, really he had no issue with people as a collective. It was just that after spending more than an hour with a person, Ryan started to want to disappear. People just talked and talked and wanted to know things about him or wanted to talk to him or worse wanted him to talk. Ryan just wanted a little bit of peace and quiet with a little bit of banter, but in a way that if he didn’t feel like responding no one would hold it against him. That would be the dream to Ryan and well Meg wasn’t going to give him that. Don’t take him the wrong way though. Ryan loved his informant with all his heart. She was nice and funny and they got along really well. Ryan hadn’t scared her off with his being an assassin and she helped keep him human.

It was easy to lose oneself in this line of work after all. Killing constantly and never being able to trust anyone. It changed a person, made them harder. Ryan needed someone to be around to keep him from getting too inhuman. Meg was good for that. At least she was when she wasn’t trying to tease him.

“You know you wouldn’t stop staring at that one kid with the glasses. And don’t think I didn’t see the way you watched him when he was walking away. For a big scary skull mask, you’re just a big softie for that guy aren’t you? Normally you would’ve ripped him a new one, but you were off your game. It was cute~” Meg teased with a smirk on her face.

Ryan gripped the steering wheel to the car he was driving a little tighter and just continued driving, trying to ignore his friend. Maybe if he didn’t react Meg would just drop it. There was no such luck though. It didn’t help that Meg was an informant so it was her job to watch people and notice things. He had no doubt that she was putting her skills to use against him, but he didn’t say anything, thankful that at the least his mask was hiding his face. She also had a mask on which meant Ryan had no way of telling how serious her teasing was. Not that Ryan wanted to know. He didn’t like the kid. So BrownMan had given him a fucking phenomenal blow job once, who cared. Maybe whenever Ryan was having alone time he’d picture the other again. And maybe Ryan would think about what it would have been like if he’d pulled the gun sooner and incorporated it in the blow job. Ryan had a weird kink and he knew it. Not that he would admit that to anyone. He didn’t care about the kid. He was just some random kid who was part of, what was it? The Fakes? Yeah that sounded right. Some kid that was part of some no name gang. Ryan was only helping for his own revenge and gain. It had nothing to do with finding out more about the kid.

Ryan was probably just kidding himself and the worst part was that he knew it. He knew he was lying to himself, but that didn’t mean he was going to admit it out loud. Especially not to Meg because she would never let it go.

“We need to focus on the mission. There’s no guarantee Ramsey isn’t planning on trying something here,” Ryan said, keeping his voice level. At least that was something he was good at. Dealing with people, no, but keeping his voice flat was a piece of cake for him. Add a mask to that and most people wouldn’t even be able to guess at what he was thinking. Meg wasn’t most people.

“You’re just changing the subject. Awww is my little murderer embarrassed? Ha, what a joke,” Meg muttered the end mostly to herself and from Ryan’s peripherals he could see her shaking her head. If nothing else, she was getting something from Ryan’s embarrassment. It sucked for Ryan, but Ryan didn’t mind it that much. A little teasing wasn’t that big a price to pay for keeping his sanity.

It was hard to ignore the other in his car, but Ryan had gotten pretty good at it after knowing Meg for two years. It was weird to think about his friendship with her. Hell meeting BrownMan the first time had happened a little before meeting Meg. It was odd to think about for Ryan. Normally he drifted from town to town just following the money and the work, but he’d been in Los Santos for a time now and he felt like he could call it home at that point. It was just as scummy and horrible as Ryan himself. It fit. He could do whatever he wanted there and end up on top and that was just the way that Ryan liked it.

Pulling into the street just outside the apartment complex that Ramsey was living, Ryan parked the car before adjusting his skull mask and making sure that it was set firm on his face. He didn’t want to risk his face being revealed to these people. After all, not even Meg had seen his face after two years of friendship. To say that Ryan had trust issues would have been a little bit of an understatement.

From the corner of his eyes, Ryan could see Meg pulling on her own mask. He knew what she looked like as she constantly said that she hated wearing a mask, but Ryan had reminded her that in case Ramsey tried to turn on them she needed to keep herself protected. Along with guarding herself against possible fallout with Marcus if he survived and found out about her involvement. Meg choosing a side in this little fight could be dangerous for her, Ryan was well aware. As an informant it was better for her to stay impartial and to just give out information without any discrimination and she was using the information that had been given to her to take out another gang. If word got out, Meg would be in danger of getting attacked by what few friends Marcus had. Of course it did help that Ryan was involved. People tended to hesitate when the name Vagabond got thrown around. If word got out about Meg’s involvement, her alliance with him would too and people would think twice about trying anything against her with the Vagabond backing her up. He was known as a vengeful person, after all.

Getting out of the car, Ryan looked over at Meg as she exited it as well. “You ready, Dollface?”

Ryan could almost hear the smile in her voice. “After you my dear Vagabond.”

It was hard not to roll his eyes, but instead Ryan just made a grunting noise before walking to the stairs. He was getting into his character. Silent and brooding, that was what the Vagabond was. Meg was there to act as his voice, his puppet, his doll one could say. It worked well. That was the balance they had found after all. Ryan stayed silent for the most part, just being intimidating while Meg would negotiate and talk. She was good at it, Ryan had to admit. Meg knew how to work a group over. Maybe that was how they’d become friends. A smile passed Ryan’s face at the thought.

The climb up the stairs was made in silence. Ryan assumed that Meg was letting him get into the Vagabond persona. He might not have let her see his face, but he’d stopped being silent around her after a few months of their weird little friendship. She understood that it took him a moment to let the change come over him. It took him a little bit to abandon his humanity and be ready to murder at the drop of a hat. And Ryan would murder if he had to. He wouldn’t let anyone stand in his way. He wouldn’t let death take him until he was done burning the whole world down, until he was done burning his name into the world. He was on a mission straight from hell. A skull mask because all he was there to do was kill. People feared him. People called him insane. People called him a demon. People feared the idea that he was just a normal human who’d abandoned humanity because if a normal person could become the Vagabond, what were people capable of? Ryan knew. People were capable of horrible terrible things, and he hadn’t even done the worst of them.

As they reached the door, which Ryan noted still looked a little broken, he could feel Meg’s gaze on him. “Ready?”

Ryan gave her a nod and crossed his arms as she knocked on the door. A moment passed before the door was thrown open by a woman. Ryan just stared at her, Jack Pattillo. She was Ramsey’s right hand woman. Ryan knew they had both met in a different gang in some other city, but he also knew her career as a getaway driver had started long before that. It was rumored that she’d been pulled into the crime life unwillingly, but Ryan had found sources that said she chose it to get attention from her family. Whether that was true or not, Ryan didn’t care. People chose this life for many different reasons. Those reasons weren’t normally very important, at least not to Ryan. He knew what kind of hell life could be.

As Ramsey’s right hand opened the door and let them in, Ryan said nothing, just walked in and looked around. He could see Ramsey standing off to the side of a counter, a hand wrapped around a glass. Ryan knew much more about Ramsey than he ever really wanted to. Ex-military and a married faithful man. That was a little strange in this life, but Ryan didn’t care. All he cared about was using the man for his goals. Ryan was going to take Marcus down for crossing him, he’d take anyone who crossed him down.

Scanning across the room, Ryan’s gaze lingered on the other body in the room. BrownMan or as his mother probably knew him, Ray Narvez Jr. He was the best sniper Los Santos had ever seen and one of the best ones Ryan had ever seen. Ryan actually didn’t know much about him. He seemed to be as much of a mystery as Ryan was. It intrigued Ryan. It just made him want to know more about the Puerto Rican. Not that he was spared a glance as he walked in. Ryan could see that the man’s gaze was plastered to the DS in his hand. Not that that mattered too much to Ryan. He didn’t need to be looked at. He didn’t care.

“Alright Vagabond, are you going to just stare at my crew or are we going to start?” Ramsey asked, sounding frustrated.

“Where are the other two?” Meg asked calmly. As Ramsey looked at her with a raised eyebrow, Meg continued, “Sorry to be rude… I’m Dollface, his partner. I’m an informant in Los Santos and I’ve got information of Marcus’s gang that will probably help you with your mission. Vagabond here tells me you’re starting up your own little group, the Fakes. It sounds interesting. Hopefully if all goes well we’ll be working together more in the future. Though, if you guys don’t mind, I’d really love for my involvement in this to remain a secret. As an informant, you know, I need to stay as impartial as possible to protect myself. Taking your side against Marcus could be dangerous for me, you know? But I know you’re a man of honor, Geoffrey Ramsey, so I feel I can trust you.”

The words seemed to soften Ramsey’s gaze a bit. That was just as Ryan planned too. Meg was good at working people and she was younger. Ryan had heard Ramsey had a soft spot for younger people. Of course Meg really was 24, she just appeared even younger. Ryan had planned it carefully.

“I’ll be talking for tall dark and scary here. We’ve been working as partners for this so I know what he wants, don’t worry. And well, if all goes well I think we can get out of here without any issues, you know? It’s just a little concerning coming in here expecting there to be five of you and only seeing three. It looks a little like an ambush. I hope that’s not what you’re planning, Mr. Ramsey. I’d hate to get blood on my dress,” Meg continued softly.

“They’re out on a job, don’t worry. Only the three of us are here. I thought we could all sit at the table while we discuss our business… there are cupcakes,” Pattillo piped up with a smile on her face. She seemed to be trying to keep the peace and Ryan believed her when she said that the others were just out on a job.

Nodding to Meg, Ryan moved to the table and sat down, looking to Ramsey to see if he would follow. Ryan felt like Ramsey was unhappy with what was going on. Unhappy about getting more people involved maybe? Or just unhappy that Ryan was the one running the show. Ryan heard Meg take a seat beside him as Ramsey and Pattillo came and sat. Looking over at Ray, Ryan wondered briefly if the other was going to actually join them. He could still hear the other saying that he had to promise to leave their crew alone. Ryan would keep his promise. After all, even murderers had their codes.  

Finally, when Ray stood up and stored his DS, Ryan turned back to stare at Ramsey, still staying silent.

“We’ve got a plan right now that fits you in it Vagabond. If your partner is alright with it, we’d like to have her stay outside of the job. Which, from her explanation of her works sounds like it works perfectly. The plan is for you and our Golden Boy to go inside to meet with Marcus, posing as though he wants to turn on me and join Marcus as a hacker or front man, while that’s happening one of our friends will be on the outside using the cameras Marcus has around to locate the best way for a second team to enter from the back. The second team will be myself, BrownMan here, and Mogar. Mogar will split off from us to loot the building and set some charges up to destroy the building and force people to evacuate. While that’s happening, BrownMan and I will be taking out Marcus’s lackeys around the building, keeping them off you and Gavino. Marcus will probably accuse you of betraying him and pull a gun on you. Gavino will have an ear piece and be alerted to when I and the others enter the building. Shortly after that he’ll attack Marcus and we’ll start attacking the back side of the building. I trust you can take out the guards he’ll have with him before they can touch Gavino. Gavino kills Marcus and you kill the others with him. We kill the others in the building and Mogar starts flushing them out with explosions. Pattillo will be on the outside and help take out those who flee. We don’t need all of them dead, just want most of them. Sound good?” Ramsey said, explaining everything calmly.

Ryan could feel Meg’s eyes on him and gave a nod to let he know that he was in agreement. “Alright, that sounds fine to us, Mr. Ramsey. I agree that I shouldn’t be involved, though I will be there to act as the Vagabond’s own getaway driver. I can help Ms. Pattillo with killing those who flee the building. After studying Marcus’s gang for some time, I’ve determined that the building you attacked first, the one that Marcus spends most of his time at, is actually a store house for coke for his gang. He goes there to hold meetings and to ensure that no one tries to steal from him. He’s known to kill anyone he even suspects might be stealing from him. It means his gang’s moral isn’t that good, but they also fear death for disobedience. Not that that matters too much for you and your goals. I’ve discovered that at about noon, those in the building lessen as Marcus conducts a count of what he has in the building. It seems like that would be the best time to strike as many people of his gang are out on other jobs. They also leave a door open for those returning from jobs to enter. Your second team could enter there without too much trouble, I believe. Though, we’d like to meet your Gavino and Mogar and anyone else involved before performing this mission so though I know you said originally that you wanted to do this tomorrow, I think with a bit more time we’d be much more successful. About a week’s time, Marcus is planning a group of heists and collections around the city which means he would be even less protected than usual. I believe that would be the best time to act. Don’t you agree, Mr. Ramsey?”

There was a nod from the other side of the table and Ryan relaxed a little. This plan sounded good and it looked like they would be able to leave without much instance. Standing up, Ryan looked at everyone at the table and nodded. “We’ll be back in 7 days in the morning so we can meet everyone on your team. After that we’ll leave separately and get to Marcus’s hideout. Gavino will probably need to hide with me and the Vagabond to avoid sparking suspicion. You guys can follow us, I’d just wait down the street until we can give you a signal that Gavino and the Vagabond have Marcus distracted. Now that we’re all in agreement, I believe we’ll be leaving. Thank you,” Meg said with a smile.

The calm look on Ramsey’s face twitched, but he didn’t say anything. Ryan was surprised that he didn’t argue against Gavino riding with them, but Ryan respected the other’s discipline. Ryan just hoped that the other wasn’t planning anything. Him being this well, docile was a bit suspect, but Ryan wasn’t going to say anything at that point. He wasn’t going to argue if Ramsey was going to let him call all of the shots.

“As long as you can guarantee that Marcus will end up dead, we’ll follow your plan Vagabond. Nice to meet you Dollface. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about the Fakes very soon,” Ramsey said with a nod before standing up and turning to leave.

Ryan smiled under his mask and quietly said, “Very good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally going to be like twice as long, but I ran out of time writing because of being super busy. The next chapter will be out soon as the part 2 of this. Hope you enjoyed!


	10. Expansion part 2

The ring was the only place that Jeremy truly belonged. Well, that was a lie. Fighting was really the only time Jeremy felt he belonged, the only time he could feel powerful and strong. Like nothing could touch him so long as he was slinging his fists. That was wrong, of course. Jeremy had gotten hurt many times, but at least he always had his best friend to pick up the pieces. At least he had Matt there to keep him together when he felt like he was falling apart. Jeremy would never be able to repay Matt for all the hacker had done for him. That was part of the reason he’d use his desire to fight to protect Matt. It was why he would keep Matt’s identity to the grave with him.

None of that mattered though, as Jeremy stepped into the tight ring of people surrounding him and another man.

“Tonight we’ve got a treat for you all. Place your bets now as the fight begins! On this side we have our reigning champion The Bear and on this side, rookie to our fighting ring only standing at 5 feet and 4 inches we have J “the Monster Truck” Doolz!” Jeremy threw his hands up in the air as his name was announced, hearing booing coming from all sides. He knew that being new to this ring he wouldn’t be a favorite to win, but he was going to win. Jeremy was confident of that. After all, the reason he was in this new ring was because he’d beaten everyone in the other ring so many times it’d gotten boring, hence changing to a new ring.

Glancing to the side, Jeremy spotted his friend Matt and gave a grin. The other would always come to watch his fights. To Matt it was a precaution in case Jeremy got knocked out so Jeremy wouldn’t have to crawl all the way back to their apartment, but to Jeremy it was like having someone there to show off to. Having someone there who would see him and be proud of him and Jeremy loved it.

Turning to face his opponent, Jeremy gave a smirk to the man in front of him. He was big, sure, but Jeremy knew that he would be able to hit harder than the man before him. After all, the name Monster Truck didn’t come from nothing. Jeremy stepped forward as soon as their announcer said for them to go. Shifting right, Jeremy dodged a jab before delivering his own punch to the man’s stomach. As his fist connected with muscle, Jeremy could hear the man before him suck in a tight breath, probably having the wind knocked out of him. The man tried to back up away from Jeremy so he would be able to throw his punches, but Jeremy didn’t let him. Jeremy kept close, using his shorter arms to continue punching swiftly and harshly. He could hear the man getting tired and was ready to try for a knock out when he was suddenly grabbed and picked up.

Tossed to the ground, Jeremy grunted, but didn’t even look before rolling on the ground, assuming the man was going in to stomp on him. Rolling up to his feet, Jeremy’s head whipped to the side as the man’s left hook slammed into his face. Stumbling back a bit, Jeremy looked at the man in front of him and spit blood to the ground before giving a toothy grin, blood covering some of his teeth from the cut in his upper lip.

Jeremy side stepped a kick coming his way before launching himself at the man, hitting the other like, well, a truck. Jeremy grabbed onto the guy’s neck, wrapping his legs around his waist to stabilize himself as he used his other hand to punch the man’s face several times in a row, ignoring the way he was getting whipped around. Jeremy could feel the spray of blood on him as he probably knocked out a couple teeth, but ignored it in favor of continuing his assault, then using only his legs and core strength to hold on as he laid into the man with both fists. As he felt the man he was on start to lose balance, Jeremy jumped off of him before jumping up and swiftly round house kicking the man’s face, knocking him solidly to the ground.

Landing on his feet easily, Jeremy took in a few deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart from the fight. It was all he could focus on though. The pounding of his heart was all that mattered to Jeremy. The thrill of fighting and taking someone twice as big as him to the ground with nothing, but his fists. It sure beat the snipping he usually did, especially since he could punch the crap out of people from the ground.

Jeremy felt his arm getting raised by the announcer they had in their underground fighting and could hear some people cheering and some groaning. No doubt he’d be getting a good cut from the fight since he was expected to lose.

After getting his cut of money and talking to a few people, some who wanted to yell at him for not losing, and some who wanted to know when his next fight was, Jeremy found himself hanging out in the warehouse, wiping his face with a towel as he waited for Matt to pull up his motorcycle to the entrance so they could go back to their apartment.

Feeling a hand suddenly attach itself to his shoulder, Jeremy suddenly whipped around, fists up and ready to fight, but dropped them when he was met with some guy with gaudy gold sunglasses grinning at him and letting go of his shoulder. Jeremy didn’t remember seeing him or his curly haired friend at the fight, but he must have been there if his words indicated anything.

“JDoolz, right? The ‘Monster Truck’ or some shite. I’m Gavino and this is my friend Mogar,” The, apparent, Brit said with a cocky grin.

Jeremy looked to ‘Mogar’ and just saw the other nod at him from behind his own, albeit ungaudy, sunglasses. Jeremy could remember hearing that name from around Los Santos. Some guy obsessed with blowing shit up, but also doubled as a bodyguard. Jeremy had almost suggested to Matt to hire him for protection, but figured it was better to not have an outside source knowing who the infamous AxialMatt was. Gavino, Jeremy didn’t know. It made him nervous, having two strangers approach him, but Jeremy decided to try and stay calm.

“Yeah. The fight’s over man. Next one’s in a week same place though if you two are looking to catch it,” Jeremy replied. The urge to defensively cross his arms came to him, but Jeremy forced his arms to stay down on his side. If they were looking for a fight, maybe buddies of his opponent, Jeremy would be ready for it.

The one in the gold sunglasses, Gavino, gave a softer smile and said, “Relax. We’re not here to fight with you or anything. Just had a few questions and knew this was the best place to find you. Besides I’m not looking to get punched by you. Your bloody fists pack a real wallop, yeah?”

A light blush rose on Jeremy’s face at the compliment. It sounded pretty sincere and looking at the man, Jeremy was pretty sure he could take Gavino down in one punch. It did something to make Jeremy feel a little more secure. Mogar looked pretty dangerous, but at that moment he wasn’t even actually looking at Jeremy or Gavino. It gave Jeremy more reassurance that they really did just want to talk to him and ask something. Maybe his opponent had some people after him or someone in the fight. Jeremy had been questioned by the police about people at fights before. Not that he ever gave the police anything, but Gavino seemed alright to be giving away information to. Like the kind of person to keep his informants on the down low.

Jeremy gave his own smile before saying, “Well what can I help you two with? If it’s about anyone watching the fight, I probably can’t say much. I was in the fight so I didn’t see many of the watchers.”

Gavino grinned toothily before responding, “We’ve heard you’re friends with someone we’re looking for.” Jeremy could already feel his heart sink before the next words came out, “One AxialMatt.”

Lunging forward, Jeremy grabbed Gavino’s shirt in his left hand before lifting his right fist, threateningly. “If you’re looking for him you better look somewhere else, bud-“

Jeremy’s words were interrupted by a bullet going by his head. A look to the side revealed to Jeremy that Mogar had pulled a gun and had it trained on him. “Drop him, or you lose your head.”

Letting go of Gavino, Jeremy looked at Mogar with a glare, but didn’t take a move. A part of him was tempted to snap at Mogar that if they wanted AxialMatt’s location they needed to just kill Jeremy because he wasn’t giving it up. He wouldn’t let these assholes hurt Matt.

Eyes drawn back to Gavino as he moved away, Jeremy could see the Brit straighten himself back up and heard him sigh. Gavino stepped up to Jeremy swiftly without warning and slapped him across his face. “That was for touching me. Now we’ll take you and do much worse if you don’t tell us what we want to know. I don’t want to hurt you, dear, but if we have to we will.”

Jeremy glared at Gavino, ignoring the stinging in his face from the slap before growling, “You might as well kill me then because I’m not telling you dicks shit.”

Cold steel was pressed to his head and Jeremy prayed that if Matt was still nearby he would see this and run, but Jeremy’s prayers went unanswered as he heard Matt say, “Don’t hurt him. I’m uh… I’m him. AxialMatt that is.”

“Get out of here Matt!” Jeremy shouted, lunging forward and tackling Gavino to the ground. He doubted Mogar would shoot if his friend was in the line of fire. It would be worth getting shot if he kept his frined from getting hurt. Jeremy didn’t want to have to deal with being alone anymore. He didn’t want to deal with losing himself in blood again.

“Jeremy stop!”

“Stop or I’ll shoot him!”

Looking up briefly, Jeremy could see Mogar holding onto Matt with his gun pointed at one of Matt’s knees. Nothing lethal, but certainly painful. Stopping his assault on Gavino, Jeremy didn’t move until he was barked the order to get up. Jeremy stood and faced Mogar and Matt, looking at Matt’s eyes as if they held the reason why Matt didn’t just run like he was supposed to.

“Fucking hell we’re not going to fucking kill your boyfriend we want to fucking hire him for a job. Calm your fucking tits. I ought to shoot you just for fucking attacking Gav so many fucking times,” Mogar yelled explosively.

“If you could not shoot him, that’d be great. And would probably convince me to work for you a little more,” Matt said, sounding a little snarky.

After Gavino had gotten himself up and better straightened out, Mogar released Matt and let him run over to Jeremy. Matt looked at the red handprint on Jeremy’s face with a frown and Jeremy shook his head, trying to shrug it off. Matt always had a tendency to get upset about Jeremy getting hurt even though Jeremy had assured him that it was fine time and time again.

Jeremy stepped in front of Matt, to try and keep his friend away from these fuckers, but was stopped by the hand on his wrist. He stood back and forced himself to calm down as Matt said, “So I’m Matt. What’s this job you’ve got for me?”

“We’re working a job to assassinate someone. We need someone good with tech to be on the outside helping to guide us and to fuck up their tech systems so we don’t have to worry too much about them figuring out what we’re doing. I’ve already got a system and supplies I can share with you for this job. You’ll be paid with a cut of the loot we get from the people we’re killing,” Gavino explained calmly. “You’d be working for the Fake AH Crew. That’s who we represent.”

Matt nodded lightly and Jeremy frowned. “Matt don’t do it. We can’t trust these assholes. Who knows if that’s actually what they want.”

Waving Jeremy off, Matt said, “I’ll accept on the condition that you hire Jeremy too. He’s good in a fight and with a sniper rifle. If you’re attacking another gang or some shit he’d help a lot. And that way he can make sure you’re not just here to kill me.”

It was easy to notice the look exchanged between Gavino and Mogar. Gavino put out his hand to shake with Matt. “You’ve got a deal. We’ll give you both on cut and we’ll hire both of you. You’ll be completely safe on the outside and Jeremy here and stick with you and be a part of our group keeping people from escaping outside. He’d be able to keep an eye on you at the same time without any problems. Afterwards we’ll leave you alone.”

That sounded good to Jeremy so he gave Matt a nod and saw Matt take Gavino’s hand and shake it.

“Unless of course, you two would like to join our crew. We could treat this job as a trial period and afterwards, assuming we work well together, you’d come work for us,” Gavino offered with a grin.

Jeremy looked a Matt for a moment and shrugged before saying, “We’ll consider it. We’d have to meet the rest of your crew first and address the fact that you almost shot me.”

“Don’t worry, love. Mogar wouldn’t have shot unless I told him to,” Gavino responded sinisterly.

Jeremy could feel a chill run down his spin and wondered what he and Matt had gotten themselves into.

\-------------------------------

Once the other two left, Jeremy rounded on Matt and said, “What were you thinking coming in here like that? You should have run with the bike, not fucking confronted these assholes.”

“And what? Let you get shot? I wasn’t going to do that. Besides it worked out. We both just got hired for a job. Because of your paranoia we haven’t had a job in forever,” Matt retorted sharply.

Rolling his eyes, Jeremy crossed his arms. “My fights pay just fine for both of us, Matt. You know it’s risky to keep hacking the way you do. They’re bound to find you out eventually.”

“Not if I’m careful and I am. What about joining them? A crew would be nice. We’d have some protection and better money. Once we get back to our place I’ll look into the Fakes and find out more on them. We can see if they’re the kind of group we might join.”

“You know I don’t do crews,” Jeremy huffed.

Matt frowned, pity in his eyes. Jeremy looked off to the side and glared at the dirt. He didn’t want to see Matt’s pity or to see the pain in Matt’s eyes. It was just a reminder that the past was hurting the both of them, not just Jeremy.

“Jeremy, you can’t keep blaming yourself for what happened to the rest of B-Team. We were all young and stupid. The others wouldn’t want you to keep blaming yourself, dude.” Jeremy could hear the pity in the other’s voice and it just hurt Jeremy. He could remember them, all their faces and voices. He could remember the fire and inferno consuming them. Jeremy could remember the first time in years that he missed a shot, all because of a fear of heights. He was supposed to be their sniper, but he feared heights and as a result they’d all died. Jeremy couldn’t take that again. Jeremy couldn’t risk losing the only one left with him.

“Fine Matt whatever you want. Can we just go back to the apartment now?”

Jeremy sighed softly after his own words.

“I’m tired.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to write as much as I can and stuff. School is hard and life is hard, but writing is fun. I hope you guys liked it. Have a great day!


	11. Finale

The plan had been made, Griffon had sent a friend to deliver some extra weapons, all the people were ready and in place. That didn’t stop Geoff from being nervous. Over the time working with Matt and Jeremy, Geoff had grown fond of them. He wasn’t sure if they were going to join their little crew, but Geoff hoped they would. They seemed to compliment the rest of the crew and once Jeremy had let go of almost getting shot by Michael, they had become fast friends. Geoff had high hopes for their little growing crew, but those hopes would be destroyed if their mission didn’t go well. His hopes would die if they got hurt or killed while destroying Marcus. Geoff knew it was possible and Geoff was worried about it. He’d seen what could go wrong in battle. Both from his short time in the military and from his past with Roosterteeth. Geoff knew things went wrong and that people died. He was going to do his best to make sure that didn’t happy, but there were many things out of Geoff’s control.

The Vagabond, was one of those. Geoff didn’t know how to feel about the skull masked man. He and Ray seemed to get along well and he seemed to listen to Ray when they were making plans as a group. That didn’t stop Geoff from being worried about getting betrayed by him. Ray had assured that the Vagabond wouldn’t betray them, but Geoff could see that Ray’s opinion was at least a little compromised. It was too late to change their plans though. Geoff would just have to have faith that if the Vagabond tried anything, Gavin would be quicker on the draw.

Maybe that was the source of Geoff’s anxiety. He feared losing Gavin again. He was worried he was leading Gavin to more pain. Geoff didn’t want that for Gavin. Gavin was like a son to him. Just like Jack was his partner. It was almost like Jack and Geoff were parents to their little crew and Ray, Michael and Gavin were their children whereas Jeremy and Matt were their nephews they were looking after for a little while and the Vagabond was their crazy wild card uncle. Geoff had thought about that a lot. Their weird little family. Geoff liked it that way though. He felt like he could trust his children and his nephews. The uncle was a wild card, but not something they couldn’t handle if it came up. Geoff just hoped they were able to keep their family together.

“Geoff, are you ready to go? The Vagabond’s here.” Geoff could hear Jack call out to him.

Staring at the mirror in his room, Geoff could see the dark circles under his eyes indicating his worry. Forcing a smile to his face, Geoff could see it looked fake. He could see the nerves that lingered in the back of his mind. Hopefully no one else would notice. Grabbing his jacket, Geoff put it on and buttoned it up, making sure his cheap suit looked good. He wanted to make a statement dressing this way. A statement saying that he was the boss and above all others. Hopefully it came off that way to other people.

Leaving his room, Geoff grinned at the group around him, seeing all his lads in the room. “You dicks ready to cause some chaos?”

His comment was met with laughter and Geoff chuckled with them. Going to the kitchen, Geoff grabbed his cheap whiskey and poured a glass. Just enough to take away his nerves and to keep him from getting too worried.

“Geoff you shouldn’t be drinking before we start a job,” Jack snapped. “I already had to keep Ray from fucking smoking a blunt and now you too? You should eat something first at least. I know you’ve got a high tolerance, but if you don’t eat you’ll get too fucking drunk to walk and I don’t know if you were aware, but this job requires walking.”

Geoff laughed a little bit and said, “No need to be such a mother bear, Jack. I’ll leave this here to drink after we finish the job. A victory drink when we get home. Maybe after we’ll even go out and have a party. You can finally get that dick you’ve been after.”

At Jack’s frown, Geoff just laughed again before turning around and looking at the others in his room. Maybe he was over compensating for his nerves and that was why he was being so crude, but Geoff didn’t care. He just wanted his family to stay together and safe. Geoff really just wanted them to succeed and stay safe, like he knew they could. Geoff believed in their power. Geoff believed that they would be okay.

He had to. Otherwise fear would paralyze him.

Grinning at them, Geoff said, “Well you cocksuckers ready to go or what? We got the Vagabond waiting on us and we don’t need him to decide to go on a murder spree cause he got impatient. Gavin you’ll be riding with him. Everyone else, two cars. Michael, Jeremy, and Matt in one. Me, Jack, and Ray in the other. We’ll meet up at the abandoned shack on top of Mt Chiliad to make sure we don’t get followed back here, got it?”

At the confirmation everyone gave Geoff, he could tell the air was tense. Michael kept glancing over at Gavin like he would disappear if out of his sight too long. Geoff could easily tell that Matt and Jeremy had gone back onto their own little corner to talk to each other. Jack was nagging Ray about eating at least a protein bar before leaving and she only got that nag-y when she was really worried. Geoff knew everyone was tense. That’s why he’d have to lead them and act like there was nothing wrong.

“Then let’s fucking go!” Geoff half yelled, grinning at the people in the room and grabbing his guns out of his bag and strapping them to himself quickly. He could see Ray check his gun swiftly before standing up as Michael shrugged on his bag full of explosives. The two exited the building first as Ray shouted, “Let’s heist!”

Geoff laughed a little bit at that and was about to leave, following Jack, Jeremy, and Matt out when he noticed that Gavin was lingering in the back. Looking at the Brit, Geoff gave a softer smile and said, “You alright bud?”

At the question Gavin gave a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m alright Geoff. No need to worry. Vagabond’s a scary bloke and you’ll be in right after me and him. It’s gonna be fine, innit?”

Patting Gavin on the back, Geoff nodded. “It’ll be fine and if anything goes wrong on your end I’ll rip off Vagabond’s dick and feed it to him, just for you.”

The laugh that came from Gavin was more genuine than the smile on his face and it gave Geoff a bit of reassurance that he didn’t know he had needed. Geoff was glad he was able to help ease Gavin’s worries a little bit. As Gavin put his large sunglasses on and adjusted his golden watch, Geoff smiled a little wider and said, “Well just do whatever you need to distract Marcus and his goons. If you have to start sucking some dick I won’t judge.”

Geoff chuckled as Gavin shoved his arm at his comment and followed the Brit out the door. Everything would be okay. Geoff was confident in their capabilities.

Going downstairs slowly, Geoff thought over what was going to happen after this hit happened. He hoped that Matt and Jeremy would join them and maybe even that they could hire the Vagabond when they needed him. Geoff wanted their crew to grow and become strong, maybe even strong enough to take over the entire city. It was probably a foolish dream, but well everyone would probably agree that Geoff was a fool. Maybe he’d get Griffon to become their arms dealer which would be nice because he would see her more and he desperately wanted to have more time to spend with her. It was a nice thought and it filled Geoff with determination to succeed.

As he reached the bottom of the steps and spotted the Vagabond, Geoff could see Gavin waving goodbye to everyone before he hopped onto the bike. Geoff saw Gavin clinging to the leather clad man as he sped away and gave his own little wave to the two. Geoff hoped that he was right in trusting the Vagabond and that he wasn’t leading Gavin to his death. Geoff shrugged off the thought quickly before following Jack and Ray to their car. Before getting into the car, Geoff looked at Michael and said, “Drive safe.”

\-----------------

To say Gavin was nervous would have been an understatement. It didn’t help that he was walking into the belly of the beast with a man who scared the absolute shit out of him. Sure the Vagabond was there to protect him and keep him from immediately getting shot on sight, but that still didn’t help him feel any less nervous. Gavin could feel butterflies in his stomach threatening to burst out and rip him open, but Gavin held himself together and forced himself to swallow the butterflies down. He wished Michael was there with him because it would have made him feel a little calmer. Michael had saved his life so many times, Gavin almost felt like he couldn’t get hurt around the curly haired man. It was reassuring to Gavin, but Michael was nowhere to be found. Gavin was along with a mercenary and a gang who wanted him and his friends dead.

As Gavin walked through the door, held open by the Vagabond, Gavin was glad that his sunglasses covered his eyes and kept his worry off his face. Gavin was glad that he had a good poker face and could lie without revealing a thing. Walking in, Gavin stood in front of the Vagabond, his arms hanging down as he walked, loose and easy looking. As Gavin spotted Marcus and his goons, Gavin crossed his arms and gave a cocky grin as though he had nothing to worry about.

“What’s this, Vagabond? You’re bringing our enemies to our base now?” Marcus barked, his guards getting up and standing next to him, hands on their guns.

The Vagabond said nothing and Gavin took that as his moment to step in. After all, he knew that the Vagabond didn’t like talking very much. “’ello, sir. I’m Gavino. Los Santos’s Golden Boy and the best theft around. I’m here to offer my services to you. The Vagabond came to me to try to get to Geoffrey and was going to beat me up mercilessly, but I proposed an idea. I want to join you. A powerful, influential gang and a chance to ruin Geoffrey’s life. You see, he and I had a deal that I would be his thief and he would pay me for the things that I stole for him, but he stuck me up. Took my goods and gave me nothing. Rude, innit? I want my revenge. Not for the things he stole, but for him making me lose face. I remember helping him come here to kill you and I thought, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I’d like to help you kill him. He doesn’t know that I know he’s taken my things without paying. He believes that I think he’ll pay me back eventually. I can get him to tell me where his wife is too. All I want in exchange is a place in your gang and a bit of work,” Gavin said. He hoped talking about getting stood up on money and goods would connect Marcus to what he believed Griffon had done and make Gavin more desirable.

Marcus seemed upset, but less so than he originally was. “I would have liked a warning before this stranger was brought into my base, but I think we might be able to work something out. You’ll have to prove your skill as a thief first.”

Gavin smirked at those words. He’d brought something with him to prove his worth as a thief. It was something from the store he and Michael had hit a while back and still had a tag on it declaring its worth and where it came from. Gavin hadn’t been able to decide whether to save it or sell it so when the plan had arised to trick Marcus, Gavin had taken it with him. Holding one hand up and slowly sticking the other in his pocket, Gavin slowly pulled out the diamond ring with two fingers, hoping none of his guards were trigger happy that day. As Gavin pulled the ring out, he could see Marcus’s eyes grow wide. It was an impressive looking ring. Gavin was quite proud of the steal.

Holding the ring out, Gavin smiled a little softer and said, “Well, sir, I thought you might want some proof so I brought this with me. I stole it a couple days ago without being caught at all. You can keep it for free, as a thank you for accepting me into your family and allowing me the chance of revenge.”

There was a look of greed in Marcus’s eyes that Gavin was easily able to see. “Well I suppose we can work something out,” Marcus replied as he snatched the ring out of Gavin’s hand. Gavin knew the other was just trying to play hard to get.

“Oh thank you sir. You’re such a kind man to accept me into your group. I will bring more gifts the next time I come. Only the best for such a gracious man,” Gavin said with a smile, laying it on thick at that point. He could see Marcus smiling and knew the other was sold on him. A couple seconds later there was a shout from a ways away from Marcus, probably the back of the building before there was a booming explosion.

Marcus jumped and turned around to look before waving at his guards. “What are you fucking doing on your asses? Go check it out! Our merch is back there!” Most of the guards leapt to their feet and sprinted off towards the back hallways. There was gun fire heard. Only two guards stayed with Marcus, but they both pulled out their guns and had them pointed at Gavin and the Vagabond.

Hands up, Gavin quickly said, “I don’t know what’s going on. I didn’t hear anything about a second attack! Last I heard Geoffrey had been shot and was still recovering. We’ll go help your guards deal with it. I’ll talk to Geoffrey it’ll distract him and someone can take him out!”

Nodding, Marcus barked, “Go then.”

The two guards lowered their guns at that and Gavin pulled out his golden pistol, running past Marcus and knowing that the Vagabond was following behind him. Gavin could feel Marcus’s eyes on him as he ran past, but Gavin also knew he had the element of surprise. Marcus trusted him. Marcus was an idiot.

Turning around quickly and suddenly, Gavin shot one of the guards in the chest, killing him. He heard Vagabond shoot as well and take out the other guard. Training his gun on Marcus, Gavin snapped, “Hands up.”

Marcus seemed to hesitate, but as the Vagabond approached closer with his own gun trained on Marcus, the gang leader put his hands up. Gavin smirked at that and put his own gun back in his waistband. “You’re a bloody idiot, you know that Marcus? You shouldn’t threaten people like Geoff. He’s not a forgiving man. And whoever upsets a part of our family gets the wrath of the entirety of our family. Not that it matters much to you since you’ll be dead soon.”

“What family? You all are just a bunch of fucking dogs, scrambling for scraps,” Marcus growled.

“No. We’re the Fake AH. And you. Well you’re dead.”

With that, the Vagabond shot and killed Marcus and Gavin knew it was done. It was finished. Geoff and Griffon were safe and free and they would become one of the most fearsome crews in all of Los Santos.

The world better have been prepared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end of this fic. I had originally planned for it to be 14 chapters longer and had an outline for it and all, but I've just lost interest in this fic. It took me a while to write even though it's a little short and it took even longer to decide if I was going to publish it at all or just leave this fic uncompleted. It's sad to lose interest and have to publish a chapter I don't think is all that great, but I'd rather have this as a completed work than to leave it unfinished. 
> 
> I hope either way that you enjoyed the fic and final chapter should you make it to this end. If you'd like to know what was supposed to happen in the unwritten 14 chapters feel free to ask in the comments. I'm happy to explain and share the outline I had written up. Maybe at some point I'll write them as a sequel to this fic, but until I gain more interest in it, it is unlikely. 
> 
> Have a great day!


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